ma 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.    JOSEPH   HOWARD   BARNARD 


A  SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ANGLO-SAXON 
FREEDOM 


A  SHORT  HISTORY 


OF 


ANGLO-SAXON    FREEDOM 


THE  POLITY  OF  THE  ENGLISH-SPEAKING  EACE 


OUTLINED  IN  ITS  INCEPTION,  DEVELOPMENT,  DIFFUSION, 
AND  PRESENT  CONDITION 


BY 


JAMES    K.   HOSMER 

Propkssob  in  Washington  University;  Author  op  "A  Lipb  of  Samuel 
Adams,"  "A  Life  of  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,"  etc. 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1903 


COPYRIGHT,  1890, 
BY  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


PREFACE. 


In  this  book  an  effort  has  been  made  to  compress  a 
sketch  of  constitutional  history  for  a  period  of  nearly 
two  thousand  years,  —  from  the  time  of  the  Teu- 
tons of  Csesar  and  Tacitus  to  the  British  Empire  and 
the  United  States  of  1890.  It  is  not  the  polity  of 
any  single  people  that  is  outlined,  but  that  of  the 
English-speaking  race,  that  body  to-day  perhaps  one 
hundred  and  twenty  millions  strong,  scattered  in  sev- 
eral nationalities  actual  or  incipient,  which  upon  all 
the  continents  and  all  the  great  islands  of  the  world, 
stands  now  so  in  the  foreground  of  attention.  It  is  a 
polity  one  and  the  same  in  its  essence  in  England,  in 
the  United  States,  in  Australia,  in  Canada :  one  and 
the  same  in  its  essence,  moreover,  as  viewed  in  the 
institutions  of  to-day  and  in  those  of  the  North 
Germans  of  the  time  of  Christ.  As  Sir  Francis  Pal- 
grave  says :  "  The  new  building  has  been  raised  upon 
the  old  groundwork ;  the  institutions  of  one  age  have 
always  been  modelled  and  formed  from  those  of  the 
preceding,  and  the  lineal  descent  has  never  been 
interrupted  or  disturbed."  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  is 
most  simply  and  comprehensively  stated  in  the  phrase 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  "  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  and  for  the  people."     In  its  long  history 


VI  PREFACE. 

there  have  been  periods  of  temporary  submergence, 
adaptation  to  the  needs  of  ever  vaster  multitudes  and 
higher  civilizations,  manifold  development  and  elabo- 
ration :  one  spirit,  however,  has  survived  through  all, 
apparent  in  the  deliberations  of  a  modern  Congress 
or  Parliament,  as  also  it  was  apparent  in  the  ancient 
folk-moots,  where  the  free  ceorls  chose  their  army 
leadei-s  and  regulated  the  life  in  their  marks. 

While  works  upon  the  con^itutional  history,  both 
of  England  and  America,  abound,  they  for  the  most 
part  appeal,  both  as  to  style  and  size,  rather  to  the 
scholar  and  the  statesman,  than  to  the  general  reader 
and  the  youthful  student.  Moreover,  in  such  works 
it  has  too  seldom  happened  that  the  constitutional  his- 
tory of  the  English-speaking  race  has  been  regarded 
en  solidarite :  but  in  this  way  it  is  both  proper  and 
expedient  to  regard  that  history.  England  and  Amer- 
ica are  mother  and  child;  the  polity  of  the  latter  in 
its  origin  is  a  mere  outflow  from  that  of  the  former, 
the  two  constitutional  streams  since  the  divergence 
flowing  constantly  parallel  and  mutually  reacting. 
Our  frequent  complaint  is  that  Englishmen  fail  to 
understand  us ;  just  so,  we  fail  to  understand  them. 
Says  the  Westminster  Review^  for  March,  1889:  "Eng- 
land's sternest,  coldest,  most  critical  censors,  I  have 
found  among  descendants  of  the  old  settlers  ;  surely 
they  retain  something  of  ancient  Puritan  bitterness. 
The  source  of  estrangement  I  am  inclined  to  trace 
largely  to  the  fact  that  the  average  American  reads 
no  history  but  United  States  history,  and  he  can 
hardly  be  said  to  study  that."  Certainly,  to  set  right 
the  "average  American,"  and  also  the  average  Eng- 
lishman, is  a  task  worth  essaying.     There  ought  to  be 


PREFACE.  Vll 

room  for  a  book  succinct  and  simple  in  its  terms, 
which  should  tell  to  busy  men  and  to  youth  in  the 
class-room,  the  stoiy  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  ;  for  as 
James  Bryce  has  said :  "  It  is  a  matter  of  the  first  con- 
sequence that  the  relation  to  one  another  of  the  two 
branches  of  the  English-speaking  race  should  be  more 
fully  understood  and  realized." 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  task  the  difficulties  are 
not  small.  How  to  preserve  a  proper  historical  per- 
spective while  viewing  upon  so  reduced  a  scale  such 
a  multitude  of  events  and  figures  ?  What  guides  to 
select  in  threading  one's  way  through  the  long  ages  ? 
There  is  no  period  through  which  one  must  not  pro- 
ceed with  care,  and  the  embarrassments  are  perhaps 
as  great  with  respect  to  times  close  at  hand  as  with 
respect  to  times  remote.  While  this  book  was  in 
preparation,  the  establishment  of  the  County  Councils 
has  restored  to  the  English  shires  their  ancient  local 
self-government ;  since  it  was  ready  for  the  printer 
six  Commonwealths  have  been  added  to  the  American 
Union ;  as  it  awaits  its  publication,  an  Anglo-Saxon 
protectorate  extends  itself  more  and  more  widely  over 
Africa,  and  the  federation  of  Australia  may  become 
any  month  an  accomplished  fact.  These  are  all  events 
noteworthy  in  the  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom, 
as  are  still  others  of  wliich  the  newspapei-s  weekly 
give  report.  How  to  catch  them  accurately  and  in 
due  proportion  ?  —  As  to  remote  ages,  the  darkness 
due  to  the  remoteness  is  further  deepened  by  the  con- 
troversies of  scholars.  The  employment  of  represen- 
tation has  commonly  been  held  to  be  characteristic  of 
Anglo-Saxon  societies  in  the  most  distant  epochs  ; 
but  this  honor  is  now  denied  to  them  by  authorities 


Viu  PREFACE. 

deserving  of  high  respect,  who  find  no  good  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  a  representative  system  until  after 
the  Norman  conquest.  Mr.  Frederic  Seebohm,  in  his 
"  English  Village  Communities,"  fails  to  see  that  the 
Anglo-Saxon  invaders  brought  with  them  any  free- 
dom at  all,  as  they  set  up  their  tuns  and  scires  in 
their  new  home  :  in  the  settlements  that  were  estab- 
lished a  lord  ruled  as  master,  with  a  society  under 
him  in  a  condition  of  villenage  ;  the  free  village  com- 
munity was  by  no  means  the  type,  but  from  the  first 
a  marked  feudalism  in  which  the  mass  of  men  were 
serfs. 

Still  more  sweepingly,  Mr.  H.  C.  Coote,  in  his 
"Romans  of  Britain,"  will  have  it  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  transmitted  to  us  not  only  no  freedom,  but 
nothing  else.  They  were  simply  a  horde  of  invading 
savages,  exercising  for  a  time  dominion  over  a  people 
they  had  conquered,  who  much  surpassed  them  in 
civilization,  —  a  horde  which  was  at  length  annihi- 
lated by  the  Danes,  leaving  no  trace  of  itself  or  its 
influence;  for,  thinks  Mr.  Coote,  all  that  we  have 
called  Anglo-Saxon,  in  blood,  tongue,  or  institutions, 
ought  to  be  ascribed  to  a  different  stock,  and  has 
received  the  name  only  through  mistake.  — While  at 
the  two  extremes  of  the  subject  embarrassments  thus 
abound,  certain  intermediate  periods  are  scarcely 
more  free.  In  the  English  colonization  of  America, 
for  instance,  the  extent  to  which  the  new  country 
followed  the  precedents  of  the  old  is  not  a  matter 
upon  which  all  are  agreed.  The  "  new  historical 
school,"  of  which  E.  A.  Freeman  may  be  regarded  as 
the  founder,  and  of  which  the  most  characteristic 
publications  in  America  are  the  historical  and  politi- 


PREFACE.  IX 

cal  tracts  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  edited  by 
Prof.  Herbert  B.  Adams,  is  inclined  to  trace  in  mi- 
nute detail  in  American  societies  the  usages  of 
the  old  world,  —  a  course  for  which  it  has  been 
sharply  censured,  sometimes  by  scholars  of  reputa- 
tion. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  a  time  were  ever  likely 
to  arrive  when  doubtful  questions  will  be  any  less  in 
doubt,  it  would  be  prudent  to  defer  the  execution  of 
such  a  task  as  the  present  one  until  that  time.  What 
probability  is  there,  however,  that  the  mighty  march 
of  Anglo-Saxondom  will  in  these  ages,  ever  press  less 
confusingly  upon  the  contemporaneous  chronicler; 
or  that  as  regards  the  past,  the  discord  of  authorities 
will  ever  be  harmonized  ?  The  task  is  worth  execu- 
ting ;  the  time  as  propitious  as  any  that  is  likely  to 
arise.  The  present  writer,  fortifying  his  judgment 
as  he  could,  has  written  his  book,  following  the  lead 
of  the  scholars  most  accepted.  The  numerous  foot- 
notes Avill  show,  he  trusts,  that  he  has  not  been  negli- 
gent in  his  reading.  However  open  to  question  his 
conclusions  may  sometimes  appear,  they  are  not,  at 
any  rate,  hap-hazard,  but  referable  to  respectable 
sources. 

The  writer  desires  to  express  his  obligation  to  a 
number  of  helpers.  He  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Goldwin 
Smith  and  to  Mr.  James  Bryce  for  letters  expressing 
sympathy  with  the  main  idea  he  has  had  at  heart,  — 
to  illustrate,  namely,  the  substantial  identity  of  the 
great  English-speaking  nations,  in  stock,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  their  social  and  political  institutions,  as 
well  as  in  tongue ;  and  the  expediency  that  these 
nations  should,  in  John  Bright's  phrase,  become  one 


X  PREFACE. 

people.  The  writer  has  received  such  a  letter  also 
from  the  venerable  Sir  George  Grey  of  Auckland  ,at 
different  times  formerly,  governor-general  of  New- 
Zealand,  of  an  Australian  province,  and  of  South 
Africa,  and  in  those  high  positions  so  honorably  iden- 
tified with  the  rise  of  an  English-speaking  world  in 
the  South  Pacific.  Dr.  W.  G.  Hammond,  Dean  of 
the  St.  Louis  Law  School,  Hon.  Mellen  Chamberlain, 
late  librarian  of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  and  Prof. 
W.  W.  Folwell  of  the  Univereity  of  Minnesota,  have 
given  the  writer  the  benefit  of  their  criticisms  upon 
several  of  his  chapters,  and  helped  him  to  important 
books  which  he  could  not  otherwise  have  obtained. 
To  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  owners  of  the 
copyright  of  the  "  Life  of  Samuel  Adams  "  and  "  Life 
of  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,"  the  writer  is  under  obli- 
gation, for  permission  to  quote  from  earlier  work  of 
his  own  bearing  upon  the  present  subject.  Finally, 
it  must  be  mentioned  that  this  History  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  Freedom  has  been  written  at  the  instance  of 
Mrs.  Mary  Hemenway,  of  Boston,  and  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  undertaken  by 
her  to  promote  good  citizenship  and  love  of  freedom, 
known  as  the  Old  South  work. 

JAMES  K.  HOSMER. 

St.  Louis,  September  21st,  1890. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Primitive  Saxons. 

PAOB 

The  polity  of  the  United  States  to  some  extent  a  revival  of 
something  most  ancient.  —  The  plains  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Elbe  and  Weser.  —  Social  and  legal  aspects  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  —  Divisions  of  rank.  —  Political 
forms.  —  Comparison  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polity  with  that 
of  other  primitive  Aryan  peoples ;  with  that  of  modern 
America.  —  Freeman  and  J.  R.  Green  on  the  retention  of 
Anglo-Saxon  elements  in  the  constitutions  of  England  and 
America 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Anglo-Saxox  Conquest  of  Britain. 

Inquiry  into  the  value  cf  Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  —  "Views  of 
John  Stuart  Mill  and  J.  Toulmin  Smith.  —  Saxon  conquest 
of  Britain.  —  Transf errence  of  the  continental  civilization 
to  the  new  home. — Appearance  of  kingship. —  How  the 
King  was  appointed.  —  Origin  of  the  thegns.  —  Conver- 
sion of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity.  —  The  Heptarchy.  — 
The  supremacy  of  Wessex.  —  Moots  of  tun,  hundred,  and 
shire.  —  The  witenagemote.  —  Conservative  spirit  of  Al- 
fred. —  Influence  of  the  Danes.  —  The  ceorls  sink  toward 
villeinage.  —  Incipient  feudalism.  —  Edward  the  Confes- 
sor     11 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Battle  of  Hastings. 

Appearance  to-day  of  the  field  of  Senlac.  —  Importance  of 
the  battle.  —  The  beach  at  Hastings.  —  Landing  of  the  Nor- 
mans in  1066.  —  Appearance  of  Duke  William.  —  His  pres- 


xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGK 

ence  of  mind.  —  Difficult  situation  of  Harold.  —  Battle  Ab- 
bey. —  The  "  Roman  de  Rou."  —  The  two  armies  opposed. 

—  The  minstrel  Taillef er.  —  Dangerous  situation  of  the 
Normans.  —  The  wounding  of  Harold.  —  The  rout  of  the 
Saxons.  —  A  walk  to-day  over  the  battle-field     .       .       .25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Magna  Charta  and  the  Rise  of  Parliament. 

Submergence  of  popular  government  under  feudalism. — 
Ultimate  good  eflPect  of  the  Norman  conquest.  —  Character 
of  the  rule  of  William  I.  —  Domesday  Boole. — Persistence 
of  ancient  institutions  in  tun,  hundred,  and  shire.  —  Char- 
acter of  the  King's  title.  —  Limitation  of  feudalism  in  Eng- 
land. —  Work  of  Henry  II  in  depressing  the  great  vassals. 

—  The  Curia  Regis.  —  Serfdom.  —  Trial  by  jury.  —  Acces- 
sion of  John.  —  Runnymede.  —  Analysis  of  Magna  Charta. 

—  The  work  of  Langton.  —  The  origin  of  Parliament.  — 
Value  of  the  representative  system.  —  Conditions  of  its 
success.  —  Simon  de  Montfort  and  his  achievement.  —  Ed- 
ward I  and  the  establishment  of  the  House  of  Commons   .    38 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Coming  up  of  the  Serfs. 

Condition  of  freedom  in  Europe  in  the  thirteenth  century. — 
Constitution  of  the  early  Parliaments.  —  Importance  of 
the  knights-of-the-shire.  —  The  yeomen.  —  Unfortunate 
state  of  the  boroughs.  —  The  Chapter  House  at  Westmin- 
ster. —  Division  of  Parliament  into  two  Houses.  —  Growth 
of  the  power  of  Parliament.  —  Its  imperfect  character  as  a 
representative  body.  —  Rise  of  the  farmers  and  the  free 
laborers.  —  The  Statute  of  Laborers.  —  Peasant  rebellion. 

—  John  Ball  in  Kent.  —  Bearing  of  Richard  II.  —  Wat  Tyler 
of  Essex.  —  His  death.  —  Treachery  of  the  King.  —  Wil- 
liam Grindecobbe.  —  Aristocratic  temper  of  Parliament     .    62 

CHAPTER   VL 

The  Times  of  the  Lancastrians. 

Deposition  of  Richard  II. — Power  of  Parliament  under 
Henry  IV.  —  Popularity  of  Henry  V.  —  Fortescue  on  the 
English  constitution.  —  Sudden  decay  of  the  power  of  Par- 


CONTENTS. 


xm 


PAGB 

liament.  —  Misfortunes  to  representation  in  the  shires  and 
the  boroughs.  —  Jack  Cade's  rebellion.  —  Justice  of  his 
cause.  —  The  Wars  of  the  Roses.  —  Extinction  of  the  power 
of  the  nobles.  —  Accession  of  the  Tudor  line  .        .        .80 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Depression  of  the  Power  of  Parliament. 

Great  increase  of  the  power  of  the  Crown.  —  Effect  of  the 
Reformation  in  producing  this.  —  Position  and  character 
of  Henry  VIII.  —  Good  points  of  his  reign.  —  Catholic 
reaction  under  Mary.  —  Wyatt's  rebellion.  —  Parliament 
grows  more  spirited  under  Elizabeth.  —  Sir  Thomas  Smith's 
description.  —  Tact  of  the  Queen  —  Acts  of  Suprem- 
acy and  Uniformity.  —  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commis- 
sion Courts. —  Absolutism  restrained  under  the  Tudors. — 
Its  triumph  everywhere  upon  the  continent.  —  Growth  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  jus  divinum.  —  Cowell's  "Interpreter." 

—  Subserviency  of  Convocation  and  the  University  of 
Oxford.  —  Claims  of  James  I.  —  Opposition  of  Parlia- 
ment.—  Accession  of  Charles  I. — The  Petition  of  Right. 

—  Laud,  Strafford,  and  the  policy  of  "  Thorough."  —  Ship- 
money    94 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Settlement  of  America. 

Charters  of  the  East  India  and  Virginia  Companies.  —  Settle- 
ment of  Jamestown ;  of  Plymouth.  —  Revival  of  ancient 
Anglo-Saxon  polity  in  New  England.  —  Submergence  in 
England  of  the  popular  moots.  —  Methods  of  Puritan  set- 
tlement in  New  England. —  The  town-meeting.  —  Repro- 
duction of  contemporary  England  in  Virginia.  —  The 
parish,  the  county,  the  court  of  Quarter  Sessions. — 
Scene  at  the  county  court.  —  Reasons  for  the  contrast  be- 
tween New  England  and  Virginia.  —  The  yeoman  settlers 
of  the  former.  —  The  great  planters,  the  slaves,  the  poor 
whites  of  the  South.  —  Disrepute  of  labor.  —  Virtues  of 
the  Virginia  society.  —  Spirit  of  the  House  of  Burgesses. 

—  Condition  of  South  Carolina ;  of  Maryland.  —  Feudalism 
in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  —  The  popular  moot  the 


xiv  CONTENTS. 


FAOS 


primordial  cell  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  —  Its  condition  in 
the  Thirteen  Colonies,  its  spirit  in  New  England,  its  feeble- 
ness in  the  South 110 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  England  of  Charles  I. 

EflFort  of  Charles  to  rule  without  a  Parliament.  —  The  Short 
Parliament.  —  Assembling  of  the  Long  Parliament.  —  Its 
idea  to  establish  the  equilibrium  between  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons.  —  Arrest  of  Laud  and  Strafford.  —  The  Grand 
Remonstrance.  —  Attempt  to  arrest  the  Five  Members.  — 
Outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  —  Constitution  of  the  two 
parties.  —  Edgehill.  —  Low  estate  of  the  Parliament.  — 
The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  and  Marston  Moor.  — 
Naseby.  —  The  rank  and  file  of  the  Ironsides.  —  Their 
manifestoes.  —  Reluctance  of  the  leaders  to  subscribe  to 
them. — The  prayer-meeting  of  December  22,  1647  .        .    130 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  English  Cooionwealth. 

Civil  war  of  1648.  —  Siege  of  Colchester  and  battle  of  Pres- 
ton. —  The  Grand  Army  Remonstrance.  —  Resistance  of 
Parliament.  —  Pride's  Purge.  —  Ireton's  declarations.  — 
The  Agreement  of  the  People.  —  Its  anticipation  of  the 
Reform  Bill  of  1832.  —  Abolishment  of  the  kingship  and 
the  House  of  Peers.  —  Execution  of  the  King.  —  Republi- 
can ideas  of  the  party  in  power.  —  Temporary  government 
of  the  Rump  and  the  Council  of  State.  —  Embarrassments 
of  the  Independents.  —  Cromwell  in  Ireland.  —  The  cam- 
paigns of  Dunbar  and  Worcester. —  The  ocean  war  with 
Holland.  —  Schism  among  the  Independents.  —  The  dis- 
solution of  the  Rump. — The  autocracy  of  Cromwell. — 
Panegyric  of  Milton.  —  The  Restoration.  —  Benefits  se- 
cured by  the  English  Revolution 146 

CHAPTER   XI. 

The  Revolution  of  1688. 

Enthusiasm  for  Charles  II.  —  Reaction  from  the  ideas  of 
the  Commonwealth.  —  Benefits  flowing  from  the  bad  char- 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

acters  of  Charles  II  and  James  II. —  The  nation  forced 
into  resistance. — The  Bill  of  Rights  and  the  Revolution. 

—  William  and  Mary.  —  Extinction  of  liberty  elsewhere.  — 
Whigs  and  Tories.  —  Important  part  played  by  the  non- 
conformists and  commercial  classes.  —  The  Huguenots  and 
other  refugees. —  Doubtful  struggle  between  Whigs  and 
Tories.  —  Establishment  of  modern  forms  in  the  polity.  — 
Rise  of  the  Cabinet.  —  Unsatisfactory  condition  of  Parlia- 
ment. — ;  Power  of  the  nobles  and  men  of  wealth      .        .    163 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Era  of  Parliamentary  Corruption. 

Equal  responsibility  of  Whigs  and  Tories  for  parliamentary 
corruption.  —  Stooping  of  honest  men  to  bribery.  —  Degen- 
eracy of  the  county  representation.  —  Decline  of  yeomen. 

—  Assumptions  of  the  great  land-holders.  —  Bad  condi- 
tion of  the  boroughs.  —  Destruction  of  the  popular  fran- 
chise. —  Rotten  boroughs.  —  Their  growth  under  the  Tu- 
dors  and  Stuarts.  —  Large  towns  unrepresented.  —  Cases 
of  Buckingham,  Bewdley,  Oxford,  Salisbury,  Bath,  New 
Shoreham,  Sudbury.  —  Condition  of  Scotland.  —  Case  of 
the  shire  of  Bute.  —  Price  of  seats  in  Parliament.  —  The 
"  nabobs."  —  Testimony  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.  —  The  peo- 
ple unrepresented.  —  Case  of  Wilkes.  —  Mass-meetings.  — 
Rise  of  the  great  newspapers.  —  Dangers  to  freedom        .  177 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Coming  on  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Condition  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  in  the  first  half  of 
eighteenth  century.  —  The  approach  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution.—  The  title  to  the  colonies  in  the  Crown,  not  in 
the  Parliament.  —  Inconsistency  of  Kings  and  colonists.  — 
The  ecclesiastical  grievance.  —  The  commercial  grievance. 

—  Selfishness  of  the  trading-spirit.  —  The  Sugar  Act.  — 
The  rights  and  privileges  of  Englishmen.  —  Effect  of  the 
destruction  of  French  power.  —  Enforcement  of  customs 
regulations.  —  The  Writs  of  Assistance.—  The  Stamp  Act. 

—  Debate  in  Parliament.  —  Burke,  Chatham,  Camden, 
Mansfield.  —  The  question  summed  up.  —  Superior  appre- 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

FAOX 

ciation  by  American  statesmen  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom. 

—  Leadership  of  Massachusetts 192 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  American  Revolution  a  Struggle  op  Parties, 
NOT  Countries. 

Character  of  George  III.  —  Sympathy  of  Englishmen  with 
the  American  struggle.  —  A  strife  on  both  sides  of  the 
ocean. — Ability  and  number  of  pro- American  advocates. 

—  Fear  for  English  liberty  if  America  was  conquered.  — 
Position  of  Burke.  —  The  masses  pro-American.  —  Strength 
of  Tories  in  America.  —  Their  wealth  and  position.  — 
Their  expatriation.  —  Pathetic  circumstances  of  their  story. 

—  Victory  of  the  popular  party  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic 218 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  written  Constitution  a  unique  feature  of  the  American 
polity.  —  In  England  Parliament  completely  unfettered.  — 
Importance  of  the  written  Constitution.  —  History  of  the 
idea.  — A  germ  of  it  in  Magna  Charta,  in  guilds  of  Middle 
Ages.  —  Charters  of  trading-companies.  —  Social  compact 
of  the  ' '  Mayflower."  —  Connecticut  precedent.  —  Vane's 
"  Healing  Question." — Convention  of  1787.  —  It  proceeds 
upon  English  lines.  —  Careful  retention  of  Anglo-Saxon 
forms.  —  Contrast  between  constitution-makers  in  America 
and  elsewhere.  — Local  forms  unchanged.  —  The  President 
the  English  King  of  the  eighteenth  century.  —  The  Electoral 
College  borrowed  from  Holy  Roman  Empire.  —  The  House 
of  Representatives  compared  with  the  Commons,  the  Sen- 
ate with  the  House  of  Lords. —The  Supreme  Court. — 
Influence  of  Montesquieu's  "  Esprit  des  Lois."  —  Sir  Henry 
Maine's  admiration  of  the  Constitution       ....  232 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  New  Colonial  Empire  and  the  Reform  Bill 

of  1832. 

French  anticipations  of  England's  ruin  at  close  of  American 
Revolution.  —  How  they  were  frustrated.  —  Why  Canada 


CONTENTS. 


xvn 

PAGE 


did  not  join  the  United  States.  —  Voyages  of  Cook.  —  Dis- 
tinctions to  be  made  in  the  present  colonial  empire  of 
Britain.  —  India,  the  West  Indies,  Canada,  South  Africa, 
Australia.  —  Pitt's  agitation  of  parliamentary  reform. — 
The  "Friends  of  the  People." — General  sympathy  with 
French  Eevolution  in  its  early  stages.  —  Reaction  on  ac- 
count of  the  Reign  of  Terror.  —  Cessation  of  the  reaction 
at  Waterloo.  —  Agitation  for  reform.  —  Passage  of  the 
Reform  Bill  of  1832.  —  Good  effects  of  passage  of  the  bill. 

—  Present  shape  of  English  polity.  —  England  practically 
a  republic.  —  Adequacy  of  tlie  people  to  their  responsi- 
bilities.—  County  Councils  of  1888. —  Henry  George's 
scheme  of  reform.  —  Flexible  and  rigid  constitutions. — 
Pitt's  colonial  bill  of  1791.  — Freedom  of  Greater  Britain. 

—  Colonial  Exhibition  of  1886.  —  Extension  of  Anglo-Saxon 
freedom  to  other  countries.  —  It  must  be  administered  by 
Anglo-Saxon  men 245 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Present  Condition  of  the  American  Polity. 

Permanence  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  —  Distrust  of  leg- 
islatures as  indicated  by  the  State  constitutions.  —  Condi- 
tion of  the  primordial  cell  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  polity,  the 
popular  moot.  —  Examination  of  rural  America.  —  Local 
self-government  in  New  England.  —  Influences  which  im- 
pair the  character  of  the  town-meeting.  —  Picture  of  it 
thirty  years  since.  —  Tributes  to  its  value.  —  Settlement 
of  the  West.  —  Ordinance  of  1787. — Local  self-govern- 
ment in  Ohio,  Michigan,  Illinois.  —  The  Township-County 
system  of  the  Northwest.  —  The  County  system  of  the 
South.  —  Virginia  continues  to  be  typical  of  the  South,  — 
The  Township-County  system  the  perfect  type.  —  Exam- 
ination of  urban  America.  —  Growth  and  multiplication 
of  cities.  —  Their  government  the  most  conspicuous  fail- 
ure of  the  United  States.  —  Eagerness  to  remedy  the  abuses. 
—  Views  of  Hon,  Seth  Low.  —  No  reason  for  discourage- 
ment          274 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

P>OB 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Futuke  of  Anglo-Saxon  Freedom. 

Predictions  of  its  wide  dominance.  —  Views  of  J.  R.  Green, 
F.  B.  Zincke,  Gladstone.  —  The  blood  of  the  English-speak- 
ing race  still  pure,  though  enriched  by  foreign  admix- 
ture. —  Views  of  E.  A.  Freeman,  Matthew  Arnold,  R.  A. 
Proctor,  J.  Bryce,  Sir  Edwin  Arnold.  —  Identity  of  Eng- 
lish-speaking men  as  illustrated  at  the  Colonial  Exhibition 
of  1886.  —  The  stock  never  stronger  or  better  than  now. — 
The  troubles  that  beset  it.  —  Dangers  from  intemperance, 
licentiousness,  neglect  of  public  education. — The  French 
question  in  Canada ;  fear  of  the  Chinese  in  Australia ;  Home 
Rule  in  England ;  in  America  the  negro  question,  excessive 
immigration.  —  The  embarrassments  not  especially  formi- 
dable as  compared  with  those  of  other  times     .        .        .    308 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Do   WE  RESPECT   OUR  FREEDOM? 

The  celebration  of  April  30th,  1889.  —  The  people's  love  of 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  —  Testimony  of  Andrew  Carnegie; 
of  J.  Toulmin  Smith.  —  The  American  and  the  German.  — 
Value  in  politics  of  the  instinct  of  the  plain  people.  — 
View  of  J.  Bryce,  of  Lecky,  of  Addison,  of  Motley,  of 
President  C.  W.  Eliot  of  Harvard.  —  General  confidence 
of  high  and  low  in  our  freedom 327 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A  Fraternity  of  English-speaking  Men. 

The  idea  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  brotherhood.  —  Views  of  J.  R. 
Seeley,  of  John  Bright,  of  Sir  Henry  Parkes,  of  Sir  George 
Grey,  of  J.  C.  Firth,  of  the  Westminster  Reviexo,  of 
the  New  Zealand  Herald.  —  Australians  especially  cordial 
to  the  idea.  —  Indifference  of  Americans.  —  Reasons  for 
cultivating  fraternal  feelings  among  English-speaking 
lands.  —  English  readiness  to  admit  and  make  good  past 
mistakes.  —  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  plan  of  an  International 
Council.  —  Necessity  of  doing  something  to  prevent  Anglo- 
Saxon  traditions  from  becoming  obscured.  —  Need  to  the 


CONTENTS. 


XIX 

PAGE 


world  of  Anglo-Saxon  leadership.  —  Possible  perils  from 
China ;  from  Russia.  —  Sketch  of  Russia.  —  Threatening 
character  of  her  vast  development.  —  Lessing  and  Goethe 
on  the  virtue  of  patriotism.  —  Love  for  humanity  higher 
than  love  of  country.  —  Blessings  of  unification.  —  For 
the  abrogation  of  national  distinctions  like  must  first 
seek  like.  — An  Anglo-Saxon  fraternity  a  step  toward  the 
" federation  of  the  world"  ,       ,.,,..    343 


APPENDIX. 

A.  Magna  Charta.    1215 

B.  Petition  of  Right.   1628     .... 

C.  Bill  of  Rights.    1688 

D.  Constitution  of  the  United  States.    1787 

E.  Constitution  of  Canada,  1867  . 


371 

383 
386 
394 
399 


INDEX 403 


"  It  is  a  matter  of  the  first  consequence  that  the  relation  to  one 
another  of  the  two  branches  of  the  English-speaking  race  should 
be  more  fully  understood  and  realized." 

James  Bryce. 

"  7%e  new  building  has  been  raised  upon  the  old  groundwork ; 
the  institutions  of  one  age  have  always  been  modelled  and  formed 
from  those  of  the  preceding,  and  the  lineal  descent  has  never  been 
interrupted  or  disturbed." 

SiE  Francis  Palgravk  :  English  Commonwealth,  I,  6. 


ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PRIMITIVE   SAXONS. 
IOOb.c  — 449  A.D. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  1789,  Washington,  as  the 
first  President  of  the  United  States,  took  a  solemn 
oath  to  maintain  the  Federal  Constitution.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  made  fourteen 
years  before  ;  the  Revolutionary  War  had  been  fought 
through ;  the  Constitution  painfully  formulated,  and 
after  the  most  anxious  fears,  ratified.  The  firet  elec- 
tions had  been  held  in  due  form.  The  ship  of  state 
had  been  built  and  launched.  One  last  anxious 
moment  remained,  when,  for  the  first  time,  steam 
was  turned  into  the  new  machinery.  Would  the 
contrivance  work  that  had  been  set  in  order  with 
such  pains?  As  Washington  took  the  oath,  the 
pulsations  began  of  the  mighty  engine  whose  accom- 
plishment through  the  hundred  years  need  not  here 
be  rehearsed.  Government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  went  into  operation,  — 
a  thing  at  that  time  unknown  elsewhere  among 
civilized  nations. 

1 


^^ 


2  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Unknown  elsewhere ;  but  had  the  world  never 
before  seen  anything  like  it  ?  As  a  polity,  it  was  no 
The  oiit  of  oi'igi^i^'l  device,  but  a  revival  of  something 
^mt"exten°t     ^ost  ancieut.     I  once  crossed  the  North 


of^somelhiug  ^ea,  and  coming  upon  deck  after  a  night 
most  ancient.  ^^  storm,  fouud  the  ship  entering  a  great 
river,  out  from  which  rolled  masses  of  ice.  From  the 
deck  a  monotonous,  far-extending  landscape  could  be 
seen,  dotted  here  and  there  with  compact  red-roofed 
villages.  Once  landed,  it  was  a  journey  of  many 
leagues  before  the  broad  plains  were  left  behind,  and 
we  reached  a  country  more  picturesque.  If,  however, 
the  plains  near  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Weser  and 
Elbe  offer  little  attraction  to  the  eye,  no  land  is 
more  interesting  through  its  associations  to  the  mind ; 
for  here  lay  the  primeval  home  of  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  with  their  kindred,  the  Jutes,  just  north,  the 
remote  forefathers  of  the  imperial  race  which,  now 
one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  strong,  retains  sub- 
stantially the  language,  institutions,  and  blood  of 
those  ancestors  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  two  thousand 
j^i\v>  •  years.  In  the  ancient  villages  we  can  see  distinctly 
a  life  proceeding,  in  some  of  its  features,  similar  to 
that  of  English-speaking  men  at  the  present  hour.^ 

The  forefathers  were  not  utter  savages.     Although 
fierce  fighters,  they  were  at  the  same  time  busy  fisher- 
men and  farmers.     Though  hard  drinkers, 
legal  aspects    the  sccucs  withiu  their  homes  were  often 

of  the  civiliza-  .    ,  .  ,        ,.         .  ,  ■,, 

tion  of  the      not  witliout  a  Simple  dignity,  as  the  eari  s 

Anglo-Saxons.        .  „         .   ,  „  •  ?  i  i       i  i 

wiie  With  a  troop  or  maidens  bore  the  bowl 


1  Tacitus  :  Germania,  XI.  Constitutional  Histories  of  Stubbs,  Free-- 
man,  Gneist,  Taswell-Langmead,  Hannis  Taylor,  etc.  Von  Maurer: 
Mark-verfassuDg.    Waitz  :  Deutsche  Verfassungsgeschichte,  Band  I,  4. 


PRIMITIVE   SAXONS.  3 

of  ale  or  mead  about  the  hall  while  the  minstrels 
sang.i  They  possessed  the  runic  alphabet,  and  showed 
in  dress  and  arms  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful. 
The  freeman  in  times  that  soon  follow  wore  a  smock- 
frock  of  coarse  linen  or  wool  falling  to  his  knees, 
identical  almost  with  that  of  the  modern  English 
ploughman.  While  it  was  the  common  garb  of  all 
classes,  it  was  among  those  of  good  station  hand- 
somely embroidered :  about  feet  and  legs  were  wound 
linen  bands,  parti-colored.  In  winter,  a  hood  cov- 
ered the  head,  and  over  the  shoulders  was  thrown  a 
blue  cloak,  sometimes  fastened  hy  a  costly  clasp. 
For  their  constant  warfare,  the  coats  of  ringed  mail 
that  were  necessary,  the  swords  scored  with  mystic 
runes  while  the  liilts  were  finely  wrought  in  silver  and 
bronze,  the  helmets  with  heads  of  boars,  wolves,  or 
falcons  for  crests,  —  all  made  plain  the  skill  of  the 
smiths.  In  the  society  all  the  ceorls,  or  land-owning 
freemen,  stood  equal;  they  were  bound  together  in 
families  in  such  a  way  that  if  one  underwent  an 
injury,  all  his  kin  lay  under  obligation  to  exact  rep- 
aration ;  as  also  they  lay  under  obligation  to  afford 
reparation,  if  one  of  their  number  had  inflicted  the 
injury.  Each  clan  occupied  its  own  mark,  or  village, 
a  tract  held  by  the  occupiers  in  common.  The  home- 
steads within  the  tun  (the  stockade,  quickset  hedge, 
or  protecting  circle  of  earth)  were  held  in  severalty, 

Phillips :  Geschichte  des  Angelsachsischeu  Rechts.  J.  Toulmin  Smith  : 
Local  Self-Go vernment  and  Centralization,  p.  29,  etc.  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies,  1st  Series,  I,  II.  J.  R.  Green :  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  I.  Howard  :  Introduction  to  the  Local  Consti- 
tutional History  of  United  States. 

1  See  J.  R.  Green's  graphic  picture  at  the  beginning  of  the  History  of 
the  English  People. 


4  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

modified,  however,  by  a  reservation  of  public  rights  ; 
but  the  pasture  and  forest,  stretching  far,  since  wealth 
lay  largely  in  flocks  and  herds,  and  since  a  good  pro- 
vision of  wood  was  necessary  for  the  winter,  were 
free  to  all  inhabitants.  Between  the  homesteads,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  pasture  and  forest,  on  the  other, 
was  land  the  tenure  of  which  was  intermediate  in  its 
character.  Such  was  the  plough-land  upon  which 
each  ceorl  raised  food  for  his  household  and  cattle, 
but  was  under  restrictions  imposed  by  the  commu- 
nity; such,  too,  was  the  meadow,  which  individuals 
owned  from  early  spring  to  the  time  of  the  hay-har- 
vest, but  which  through  fall  and  winter  was  common 
feeding-ground  for  the  swine  and  kine  of  all. 

As  to  station,  though  in  a  primitive  village  of  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  the  ceorls  formed  the  most  nu- 
Divisions  of  mcrous  class,  they  by  no  means  comprised 
all  the  people.  There  were  besides  the 
Icets^  in  some  districts  descendants  of  the  race  from 
whom  the  soil  had  been  conquered,  in  other  districts 
later  comers  than  the  Saxons  themselves.  The  Iset 
had  no  individual  holding  within  the  tun,  and  no 
share  in  the  common  land  of  the  mark.  He  was 
dependent  upon  some  ceorl,  was  to  some  extent  re- 
stricted in  his  freedom,  but  at  the  same  time  pos- 
sessed rights  which  the  ceorl  was  forced^  to  respect. 
Below  the  lasts  were  the  theows^  men  and  women  who 
were  distinctly  slaves,  —  captives  in  war  perhaps,  or 
persons  fallen  into  this  condition  through  debt  or 
crime.  The  theow  had  no  rights,  his  master  having 
power  over  him  for  life  or  death :  his  children  were 
born  slaves ;  so,  too,  the  children  of  a  slave  mother, 
though  the  father  might  be  free.     The  theows  were 


PRIMITIVE  SAXONS.  5 

probably  few  in  number.  As  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  social  system  the  slave  is  found,  so  at 
the  top  stood  the  eorl^  cetheling^  or  noble,  who,  how- 
ever, had  no  station  apart  from  the  ceorl.  He  was 
simply  the  man  descended  from  the  first  settler,  or 
the  man  set  apart  "  because  the  blood  that  ran  in  the 
veins  of  all  was  believed  to  run  purest  in  him.''^ 
But  no  power  sustained  him  in  his  foremost  place, 
except  a  free  recognition  on  the  part  of  his  fellows 
that  it  was  his  due. 

In  the  public  life  of  the  tribe  the  theow  had  no 
part,  the  Iset  little  part ;  for  the  ceorl,  by  virtue  of 
his  possession  of  the  land,  held  all  power,  ponticai 
In  the  centre  of  the  tun  was  the  moot-hill^  ^''""^' 
or  perhaps  a  great  tree,  where  the  freemen  came  to- 
gether to  deliberate  and  to  govern  themselves.  Here 
was  administered  the  business  of  the  common  pasture 
and  forest ;  here  the  grass-land  was  portioned  out  in 
the  early  spring,  and  the  plough-land  equably  allotted. 
In  case  of  a  change  in  the  private  holding,  the  seller 
handed  to  the  buyer  a  turf  or  a  twig  cut  on  the  ground 
in  question,  in  token  of  the  transfer.  As  time  pro- 
ceeded, the  tie  of  kinship  gave  way  to  the  tie  of 
neighborhood,  but  the  customs  did  not  change.  As 
to  the  territory,  there  remained  the  individual  hold- 
ing, the  common,  and  the  land  held  by  intermediate 
tenure ;  as  to  the  people,  ceorl,  loet,  theow,  setheling, 
retained  each  his  place.  Above  all,  the  moot  remained 
the  centre  of  life  in  the  mark.  It  is  probable,  too, 
that  here  took  place,  after  matters  peculiar  to  the 
little  community  were  disposed  of,  the  choosing  of 

1  Sir  Henry  Maine  ;  Village  Communities,  p.  145. 


6  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

the  representatives,  who  were  to  speak  for  those  who 
sent  them  in  the  larger  moots  of  the  hundred  and  the 

For  before  history  begins,  a  series  of  moots  ranging 
upward  from  the  assembly  of  the  mark  in  ever-widen- 
ing comprehensiveness  had  come  to  pass.  Marks 
were  gathered  into  hundreds,  districts  sending,  each, 
perhaps,  one  hundred  men  to  war;  and  these  again 
into  the  great  tribe,  or  folc.  Each  division  had  its 
proper  moot,  the  marks  appearing  probably  by  their 
representatives  in  the  higher  moots.  On  great  occa- 
sions, and  also  at  stated  times,  as  at  the  solstice,  the 
freemen  gathered  in  thousands  to  the  great  folc-moot^ 
dispensing  with  representation.  The  priests  pro- 
claimed silence  and  maintained  order.  Speakers 
were  at  liberty  to  persuade,  but  no  one  had  power 
to   command.      The   nation,   which,   upon   occasion, 

1  That  representation  appeared  very  early  is  asserted  by  the  latest 
constitutional  historians  in  general,  —  by  none  more  confidently  than 
the  greatest  among  them,  Bishop  Stubbs  (Constitutional  History,  Vol. 
I.  pp.  44-45,  90-91,  95-%,  102-103,  114-115).  There  are  profound  and 
accurate  scholars,  however,  who  see  no  adequate  proof  of  it.  Dr.  W.  G. 
Hammond  finds  no  sufficient  evidence  as  to  the  presence  of  representa- 
tives in  the  shire-moot  until  after  the  Norman  Conquest,  when,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Henry  I,  the  reeve  and  four  men  of  the  town  appear, 
if  the  lord  and  steward  are  absent,  to  remove  the  liability  to  fine  of  the 
unrepresented  community.  Dr.  Hammond's  views  have  been  given  in 
lectures  in  the  law-schools  of  the  State  universities  of  Iowa,  California, 
and  Michigan ;  also  of  Boston  University  and  Washington  University, 
St.  Louis.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  sometime  be  accessible  to 
students  in  general  in  book  form.  My  own  examination  of  the  passages 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws  (Schmid:  Gesetze  der  Angel-Sachsen,  Leipsic, 
1858)  cited  by  Stubbs  in  support  of  his  claim,  leads  me  to  feel  that  we 
must  proceed  here  with  caution.  However,  the  presence  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  tuns  in  the  higher  moots  at  a  very  early  day  is  referred 
to  in  this  book  as  a  thing  probable,  —  a  position  amply  justified  by  the 
statements  of  those  regarded  at  present  as  the  greatest  masters  in  this 
field. 


PRIMITIVE   SAXONS.  7 

became  at  once  a  military  host,  sometimes  opposed 
by  loud  shouts,  sometimes  approved  by  shaking  their 
spears,  while  in  vehement  moments  they  clashed  to- 
gether weapon  and  shield.  No  functionary  was  rec- 
ognized, except  as  he  was  elected  by  the  national 
voice.  No  one  was  King,  except  as  his  title  was 
based  on  the  suffrages  of  the  freemen.  To  lead 
armies,  certain  heretogas,  herzogs,  dukes,  were  selected 
and  commissioned,  usually  out  of  the  class  of  sethe- 
lings  ;  and  these,  if  they  became  popular  and  redoubt- 
able, had  each  his  gesith,  comitatus,  a  troop  of  spirited 
youths  anxious  to  gain  glory  and  booty,  who  attached 
themselves  voluntarily  to  the  successful  chief. 

If  we  compare  this  primitive  polity  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  with  that  of  other  rude  societies  of  the  Aryan 
stock,   some   marked   differences   may  be  comparison 
noted.     The  power  of  the  people,  indeed,  Angio-saxon 
is  no  greater  than  m  the  oiavomc  mir,  or  that  of  other 

,  .  .    .  »      ,  Aryan  peo- 

village ;  than  in  the  communities  of  the  pies, 
early  Greeks,  as  described  by  Homer ;  than  in  the  vil- 
age  communities  of  India.  Hallam  claims  that  all 
races  occupying  a  similar  stage  of  culture  possess  a 
similar  liberty.^  As  regards  the  Slavs,  however,  the 
succession  of  moots  above  that  of  the  mir  is  said  to 
be  quite  wanting.  In  the  case  of  the  Greeks,  no  such 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  representation  existed, 
if  we  may  trust  Freeman,^  as  that  implied  by  the 
sending  to  the  superior  assembly  of  the  spokesmen 
for  the  mark.  If  we  look  at  the  village  communities 
of  India,  though  in  many  of  these  a  representative 

1  Middle  Ages,  p.  64,  Harper's  ed.    See  also  G.  L.  Gomme :  English 
Village  Communities,  Chap.  I  (1890). 

2  History  of  Federal  Government,  H,  p.  67. 


8  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

council,  standing  for  all  the  cultivators,  exercises 
the  government,  nothing  is  to  be  found  like  the  folk- 
moot,  the  general  meeting  of  the  people.^  Between 
the  Anglo-Saxons  and  the  Teutons  south  of  them,  a 
close  analogy  in  institutions  undoubtedly  existed. 
The  latter,  however,  though  never  conquered  by 
Rome,  became  at  an  early  period  more  or  less  affected 
by  the  Roman  contact,  and  lost  some  of  the  primitive 
characteristics.  Of  all  the  Germanic  tribes,  the  An- 
gles and  Saxons  were  those  least  touched  by  the 
influences  streaming  so  abundantly  and  pervasively 
from  the  city  of  the  Seven  Hills. 

Let  us  now  set  side  by  side  ancient  Germany  and 
modern  America,  the  ancient  prolific  mother  and  the 
Comparison  youugest  child ;  though  the  points  of  con- 
saxon  with      trast   arc   marked  enough,  the    points  of 

American  .  •ni  r  ^ 

instiiutiona.  rescmblancc  Will  be  found  at  the  same 
time  numerous  and  striking.  A  nation  of  sixty 
millions  is  vastly  different  from  a  tribe  of  a  few  thou- 
sands ;  the  elaborate  civilization  of  the  nineteenth 
century  is  vastly  different  from  the  culture  scarcely 
raised  above  barbarism,  of  the  fii-st;  the  intricate 
enginery  of  peace  and  war,  the  cities  of  iron  and 
granite,  the  network  of  conventionalities  by  which 
we  are  bound,  are  far  removed  from  the  simple  spear 
and  shield,  the  palisaded  tun,  and  the  artless  etiquette 
of  the  hall  of  the  setheling.  Here  are  points,  never- 
theless, in  which  we  agree  with  those  men  of  the 
past.  The  first  English  settlere  of  America  held 
their  property  by  similar  tenures,  traces  being  by  no 
means   absent   of   the   primeval  communal  system.^ 

1  Sir  H.  Maine :  Ancient  Village  Communities,  pp.  124,  154. 

2  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  History  and  Political  Science, 
1st  Series,  Nos.  H,  IX,  and  X. 


PRIMITIVE  SAXONS.  9 

The  Indian,  descendant  of  the  aboriginal  owners  of 
the  soil,  without  citizenship,  yet  not  a  slave,  has  been 
in  some  times  and  places  probably,  no  remote  analogue 
of  the  Iset;  so,  too,  the  indented  servant,  a  class 
numerous  in  the  colonial  days,  who  were  bound  in 
service  to  the  freeman,  and  yet  not  distinctly  servile. 
The  slave,  the  counterpart  of  the  ancient  theow,  we 
have  had  until  within  twenty-five  years.  As  regards 
the  setheling,  the  man  in  a  vague  way  set  apart,  likely 
to  be  chosen,  if  brave  and  competent,  to  the  office  of 
heretoga,  or  war-chief,  our  society  furnishes  no  trace 
of  him;  on  the  other  hand,  the  American  citizen, 
sovereign  in  all  his  privileges,  is  the  counterpart  of 
the  ceorl,  except  that  a  share  in  the  ownership  of  land 
is  no  longer  a  condition  of  the  franchise.  In  the 
definite  subordination,  moreover,  of  tun  to  hundred, 
of  hundred  to  shire,  and  of  shire  to  tribe,  we  have  no 
remote  foreshadowing  of  town,  county,  state,  and 
federal  union.  The  New  England  town-meeting  is 
the  moot  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  tun,  resuscitated  with 
hardly  a  circumstance  of  difference  ;  ^  as  closely  par- 
allel, perhaps,  also  are  the  ancient  moots  of  the  shire, 
if  they  were  constituted  of  the  representatives  from 
each  tithing,  to  the  county  boards  of  the  Northwest 
made  up  by  the  supervisors  of  the  different  town- 
ships.2  Representation,  the  principle  that  pervades 
the  whole  apparatus  for  law-making  and  administra- 
tion in  the  higher  ranges  of  politics,  is  distinctly 
an  Anglo-Saxon  idea,  proceeding  probably  from  tlie 
earliest  times.     If   America   resembles   the   ancient 

1  Freeman:  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  1st  Series,  I,  p.  38. 

2  Howard :  Introduction  to  Local  Constitutional  History  of  the  United 
States,  I,  p.  158. 


10  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

mother,  in  no  less  degree  does  England  resemble  her. 
"  The  voice  of  sober  history  does  assuredly  teach  us 
that  those  distant  times  have  really  much  in  common 
with  our  own,  much  in  which  we  are  really  nearer 
to  them  than  to  times  wliich  in  a  mere  reckoning  of 
years  are  far  less  distant  from  us."  ^  "  All  England," 
says  J.  R.  Green,  "  lay  in  that  oldest  home. 

Freeman  and      .    "^  -r.      t  .  , 

Green  on  the    m   the   village-moot,    rarliament ;   in   the 

retention  of  ^ 

Anglo-Saxon    glec-men,  Chaucer  and  Shakspere ;  in  pirate- 

elements  in         <-'  j.  '         jr 

the  constitu-     bark,  Drake  and  Nelson."    All  America  lay 

tions  of  Eng-     _  -^ 

land  and  in  that  oldcst  homc  no  less.    The  blood  and 

America.  -. 

fibre  of  the  whole  great  English-speaking 
race,  in  fact,  is  derived  from  those  Elbe  ^nd  Weser 
plains ;  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,  which  is  as  the  breath  of  its  life  wher- 
ever that  race  may  be  scattered,  is  the  ancient  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom. 

1  Freeman:  Growth  of  English  Constitution,  p.  158. 


CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN.  11 


CHAPTER    11. 

THE  ANGLO-SAXON  CONQUEST  OF  BRITAIN. 


Our  freedom,  then,  is  no  new  thing,  but  developed 
from  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  something 
transmitted  from  times  perhaps  prehistoric.  We  are 
to  trace  its  course  through  nearly  two  thousand 
years,  from  the  German  plains  to  the  United  States  of 
to-day.  The  fluctuations  in  its  history  have  been 
extreme  and  constant.  Many  times  it  has  been  upon 
the  verge  of  extinction.  Always,  however,  it  has 
been  maintained,  until  at  the  present  hour  it  ad- 
vances to  the  dominion  of  the  world. 

But  before  entering  upon  the  story  of  this  prog- 
ress,   let    us    inquire    precisely    why    Anglo-Saxon 
freedom   must  be    regarded   as   valuable,  inquiry  into 
Precisely  why  is  it  that  in  an  intelligent  Ang^io-slxon 
human  society  it  is  better  that  the  people   ^'■^^'^°™- 
should  govern  themselves  than  that  they  should  be 
under  mastership,  either   that  of   a  sovereign  or  a 
ruling  class,  however  wise  and  well  disposed  ?     Since 
human  nature  is  what  it  is,  it  is   quite  certain  that 
in  the  long  run  peace  and  justice  between  man  and 
man  will   be   better   brought  to  pass   through   self- 
government,  in  a  civilized   state  whose   citizens  are 


12  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

fairly  self-controlled,  than  through  a  monarchy  or  the 
rule  of  a  few.  Now  and  then  a  King  arises  of  the 
highest  good  sense  and  the  utmost  worth.  Some- 
times a  small  governing  class  will  show,  through  a 
term  of  years,  unselfishness  and  solicitous  skill  in 
public  business.  The  beneficent  autocrat  is  sure, 
however,  to  give  way  sooner  or  later  to  some  tyrant 
—  the  well-meaning  few  to  a  grasping  oligarchy.  The 
masses  of  mankind  can  trust  no  one  but  themselves 
to  afford  to  their  welfare  a  proper  oversight.  No 
one  will  claim  for  democratic  government  that  it 
is  not  beset  by  embarrassments  and  dangers.  Its 
course  is  always  through  tumults ;  its  frictions  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances  cause  often  pain- 
ful jarring  and  obstruction.  But  when  all  is  said 
against  it  that  can  be  said,  it  remains  true  that,  for 
Anglo-Saxon  men,  no  other  government  is  in  the 
long  run  so  safe  and  efficient. 

There  is,  however,  a  more  important  consideration 
than  even  this  in  favor  of  government  of  the  people, 
and  here  I  cannot  do  better  than  follow 
the  thought  of  John  Stuart  Mill.  The 
best  government  is  that  which  does  most  to  improve 
the  people,  and  that  is  the  government  in  which  the 
supreme  controlling  power  in  the  last  resort  is  vested 
in  the  entire  aggregate  of  the  community,  —  every 
citizen  not  only  having  a  voice  in  the  exercise  of 
that  ultimate  sovereignty,  but  being,  at  least  occa- 
sionally, called  on  to  take  an  actual  part  in  the  gov- 
ernment by  the  personal  discharge  of  some  public 
function,  local  or  general.  The  superiority  of  pop- 
ular government  over  every  other  as  to  effect  upon 
character  is  decided  and  indisputable.     The  practice 


View  of  John 
Stuart  Mill. 


CONQUEST  OF  BRITAIN.  13 

of  the  dicastery  and  ecclesia  raised  the  intellectual 
standard  of  an  average  Athenian  citizen  far  beyond 
anything  of  which  there  is  any  example,  either 
ancient  or  modern.  A  benefit  of  the  same  kind  is 
produced  upon  Englishmen  and  Americans,  by  their 
liability  to  be  placed  on  juries  and  to  serve  in  town, 
district,  and  parish  offices.  They  are  thus  made 
very  different  beings  in  range  of  ideas  and  develop- 
ment of  faculties  from  those  who  have  done  nothing 
in  their  lives  but  drive  a  quill  or  sell  goods  over  a 
counter.  Still  more  salutary  is  the  moral  part  of 
the  instruction  afforded  when  private  citizens  take 
part  in  the  public  functions.  They  must  weigh  in- 
terests not  their  own,  and  be  guided  by  another  rule 
than  their  private  partialities :  they  must  regard  the 
general  good.  Participation,  even  in  the  smallest 
public  function,  is  useful :  such  participation  should, 
however,  be  great  as  the  general  good  will  allow ; 
nothing  else  can  be  ultimately  desirable  than  the 
admission  of  all  to  a  share  in  the  sovereign  power 
of  the  state.  Unless  substantial  mental  cultivation 
in  the  mass  of  mankind  is  to  be  a  mere  vision,  this 
is  the  road  by  which  it  must  come.  De  Tocqueville 
has  shown  the  close  connection  between  the  patriot- 
ism and  intelligence  of  Americans  and  their  demo- 
cratic institutions.  No  such  wide  diffusion  of  the 
ideas,  tastes,  and  sentiments  of  educated  minds  has 
ever  been  seen  elsewhere,  or  even  conceived  of  as  at- 
tainable. Nothing  quickens  and  expands  like  polit- 
ical discussion ;  but  political  discussions  fly  over 
the  heads  of  those  who  have  no  votes  and  are  not 
endeavoring  to  acquire  them.  Their  position  in  com- 
parison with  the  electors  is  that  of  an  audience  in 


14  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

a  court  of  justice  compared  with  the  twelve  men  in 
the  jury-box .1 

To  these  views  of  Mill  may  be  added  those  of 
another  energetic  writer.  Popular  government  af- 
fords the  only  true  education.  It  is  not 
J.  Touimin  scliools  and  collcgcs  that  can  ever  give  that 
education.  They  may  be  the  means  of  im- 
posing cramps  and  fetters  on  the  mind ;  they  may  dull 
out  half  the  faculties  by  giving  undue  exercise  to 
others  ;  they  may  drill  into  a  lifeless  routine  of  pro- 
prieties and  conventionalisms  ;  they  may  even  impart 
what  is  called  refinement  and  politeness ;  but  they 
never  are,  and  never  can  be,  the  means  of  training  up 
to  the  great  business  of  life.  For  that  a  greater  and 
wider  school  is  necessary, — the  school  of  the  active 
exercise  of  all  the  faculties  in  the  earnest  work  of  real 
life.  But  the  great  instrument  for  drawing  forth  the 
powers  of  mind  and  sharpening  the  wit  in  every  useful 
way  will  be  the  free  schools  of  manly  discussion  and 
intercommunication  which  popular  institutions  will 
keep  always  open  and  attended.  Both  as  to  thought 
and  action,  the  faculties  of  man  will  have  this  as  their 
best  training.  Men  cannot  discuss  without  first  hav- 
ing paid  some  attention  to  the  subject-matter  of  dis- 
cussion. As  long  as  everything  is  done  for  them, 
they  have  no  occasion  to  think  at  all,  and  will  soon 
become  incapable  of  thinking.  But  the  moment  they 
are  thrown  on  their  own  resources,  the  moment  self- 
reliance  and  self-dependence  are  made  necessary  to 
their  existence,  they  wake  froin  their  torpor,  put  forth 
their  energies,  and  rouse  their  faculties.     It  becomes 

1  Considerations  respecting  Representative  Government,  American 
ed.,  p.  62,  etc. 


CONQUEST  OF  BRITAIN.  15 

necessary   that   they  should   act;  and   to   act  they 
should  think.i 

If,  then,  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  is  a  matter  of  such 
paramount  importance,  time  will  be  well  spent  in 
tracing  its  course  in  history.  It  has  been  seen  that  a 
considerable  similarity  exists  among  the  popular  insti- 
tutions of  the  primitive  Aryan  stocks,  a  similarity 
extending  in  some  degree  to  savage  races  in  general. 
No  such  development,  however,  has  anywhere  else 
taken  place  as  that  in  the  case  of  Anglo-Saxon  free- 
dom. The  Englisli;-speaking  race  is  the  only  race 
in  which  there  has  been  an  unbroken  institutional 
growth  from  the  forest  Jbe^innings.  "  No  other  soci- 
ety," sa^'S  Macaulay,  "  has  yet  succeeded  in  uniting 
revolution  with  prescription,  progress  with  stability, 
the  energy  of  youth  with  the  majesty  of  immemorial 
antiquity."  ^ 

In  the  conquest  of  England  there  was  a  complete 
transfer  to  the  island,  of  the  continental  order.  Veri- 
table  war-keels  of    the  times  of   Hengist 

1    TT  1  1  1    •      j-l  i-      Anglo-Saxon 

and  Horsa  have  been  preserved  m  the  peat-  conquest  of 

(.    oi  •    1  1  •  1  Britain. 

bogs  ot  Sleswick,  so  that  an  accurate  idea 
may  be  formed  of  the  fleets  in  which  was  effected  this 
memorable  deportation.  They  were  flat-bottomed,  so 
that  they  might  be  easily  beached,  seventy  feet  in 
length,  eight  or  nine  in  width,  with  sides  of  oak 
planks  fastened  by  bark  ropes  and  iron  bolts.  Be- 
sides the  sails,  the  power  of  fifty  oars  forced  the 
dragon  fio-ure-head  through  the  sea.     ^Vlono:  the  bul- 

1  J.  Toulmin  Smith:  Local  Sclf-Government  and  Centralizatiou, 
London,  J.  Cliapman,  1851,  p.  50,  etc. 

-  History  of  England,  ^'ol.  I,  p.  20,  Harper's  ed. 


16  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

warks  were  ranged  the  war-boards,  the  round  shields 
of  the  crew,  of  yellow  limewood,  with  an  iron  boss 
in  the  centre.  In  the  holds  of  the  preserved  ships 
have  been  found  still  lying  the  weapons  and  armor 
held  ready  for  the  landing,  —  the  short  seax,  at  once 
dagger  and  knife;  the  sword,  with  its  blade  rune- 
inscribed  ;  the  long  spear  of  ash ;  the  falcon  or  boar- 
crested  helmet.  In  the  effete  Roman  world  upon 
the  border  of  which  they  had  lived,  scarcely  touched 
by  influences  from  it  either  good  or  bad,  the  basis  of 
society  was  the  peasant  crushed  by  deepening  fiscal 
tyranny  into  the  slave  ;  the  basis  of  political  life  was 
the  hardly  less  enslaved  proprietor,  disarmed,  bound 
like  a  serf  to  the  soil,  powerless  to  withstand  the 
greed  of  the  government  in  which  he  himself  had  not 
the  slightest  part.^  The  society  and  polity  with 
which  those  rude  barks,  breasting  far  and  near  the 
bleak  German  Ocean,  were  freighted,  was,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  of  freemen,  brave  ceorls,  judging, 
fighting  for  themselves ;  farmers  and  herdsmen  by 
land,  by  sea  the  boldest  of  sailors. 

After  the  foray  of  Jute,  Angle,  and  Saxon  warriors, 
wife  and  child  presently  followed ;  just  as  distinctly 

in  the  transplantation  passed  cetlieling, 
of  the  cont^  ccorl,  IcSt,  and  slave,  who  presently  set  in 
zation  to  the     Order  tuu,  liuudred,  and  shire,  each  with 

its  appropriate  moot.^     The  movement  has 

1  J.  R.  Green  :  The  Making  of  England,  p.  148. 

2  It  must  be  noted  here  that  there  are  scholars  who  find  no  evidence 
of  such  a  transference  of  life  and  institutions  from  the  Elbe  and  Weser 
plains  to  Britain,  at  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest.  Mr.  H.  C. 
Coote  in  his  "Romans  of  Britain'"  (London,  F.  Norgate,  1878),  argues 
at  length,  that  during  the  Roman  period  the  greater  part  of  the  island 
was  occupied  by  the  Belga;,  who  had  begun  to  settle  here  before  the 


CONQUEST  OF   BRITAIN.  17 

not  the  attestation  of  documents,  but,  comparing  the 
account  of  Tacitus  with  the  reports  of  annalists  who 
after  an  interval  appeared,  the  intermediate  history 
becomes  plain  to  us.  As  before,  the  land-owning 
freemen  possessed  all  substantial  power ;  the  unit  of 
the  political  body  was  the  tun-scipe,  township ;  and 
this,  whether  it  was  a  settlement  of  kindred  coloniz- 
ing on  their  own  account,  or  the  estate  of  some  rich 
man  occupied  by  a  body  of  dependents,  or  a  neighbor- 
hood of  small  landholders  brought  to  act  together 
simply  from  their  nearness  to  each  other  with  no  tie 
of  relationship,  possessed  a  vigorous  vitality.  In  ex- 
ceptional cases  the  reeve  of  the  tun  was  not  elected, 
but  nominated  by  the  great  proprietor ;  nevertheless, 
in  all  the  tuns  the  ceorls  had  their  moots  with  power 


time  of  Caesar.  They  were  Teutons,  and  to  them  we  owe  what  we 
have  called  the  Anglo-Saxon  element  in  our  institutions  and  language. 
When  the  Anglo-Saxons  came,  they  did  not  exterminate,  but  lived 
among  the  Romanized  population  (the  Belgae,  namely,  who  had  risen  in 
civilization  under  the  masters  from  the  Seven  Hills),  as  conquerors  and 
controllers,  though  in  a  far  more  barbarous  condition  than  their  victims. 
The  institutions  and  language  that  prevailed  were  derived  entirely  from 
these  Romanized  Belgae ;  for  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  at  last  all  killed 
by  the  Danes.  Then  the  "  Roman  burgesses  "  came  up,  obtaining  con- 
cessions almost  amounting  to  independence.  Through  influences  pro- 
ceeding from  them,  feudalism  was  overcome,  and  a  place  in  the  national 
council  at  last  won  for  the  Commons,  this  last  achievement  being  but 
the  revival  of  a  right  which  had  been  possessed  under  the  Roman  em- 
pire. These  ideas,  so  at  variance  with  the  ordinary  teaching  as  regards 
early  English  history,  are  presented  with  much  learning  and  ingenuity. 
They  have  made  upon  the  world  little  impression,  however,  and  since 
the  death  of  Mr.  Coote,  in  1885,  they  have  found  no  conspicuous 
champion.  The  vast  weight  of  authority  remains  in  favor  of  the 
view  stated  in  the  text.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  a  theory  so  utterly 
subversive  of  this  view  admits  of  a  presentment  so  plausible,  must 
cause  a  feeling  that  here  statements  quite  too  definite  may  be  made,  and 
that  the  margin  of  uncertainty,  as  regards  events  in  these  dark  years,  is 
very  large. 


18  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

of  making  their  local  laws.  The  bui%  or  borough, 
was  only  a  more  strictly  organized  tun-scipe,  with  a 
ditch  or  rampart  of  earth  instead  of  the  hedge  or 
paling.  The  hundred,  or  wapentake^  was  a  union  of 
townships.  These  again  were  collected  into  divisions 
called  in  the  North  ridings^  in  Sussex  rapes,  in  Kent 
lathes ;  the  shire  at  last  comprehended  all,  the  chief 
officers  of  which  w^ere  the  shire-reeve,  and  the  ealdor- 
man,  officials  originally  elective,  but  tending,  as  time 
goes  forward,  to  become  hereditary.i 

The  most  important  change  to  be  noticed,  as  the 
German  invaders  make  their  new  homes,  is  that  the 
Appearance  King  appears.  In  some  tribes  of  the  Teu- 
of  kingship.  ^Qj^g  there  had  been  in  the  earliest  historic 
day  a  shadowy  functionary,  in  a  certain  sense  an 
over-lord  through  the  suffrages  of  the  freemen.  The 
conquerors  of  Biitain  w^ere  not  among  these  tribes, 
the  folk-moot  being  supreme.  Still,  in  carrying  on 
war,  the  arm3'-chiefs,  heretogas,  elected  from  among 
the  (Bthelings  by  the  people,  each  surrounded  by  a 
personal  retinue  of  warlike  youths  attracted  by  his 
prowess,  headed  the  military  expeditions.  As  the 
necessit}'  for  one-man  power  became  pressing  in  order 
to  make  effective  the  extraordinary  undertakings 
upon  which  the  barbarians  at  length  entered,  more 
and  more  authority  was  given  to  that  heretoga  w^ho 
showed  himself  valiant  and  wise,  until  in  chieftains 
like  Hengist,  Horsa,  ^Ella,  and  Cerdic,  personages 
stepped  forth  among  them  in  a  character  quite  new. 
Like  the  old  heretogas,  they  possessed  no  authority 


1  In  the  constitutional  sketcli,  Stubbs  at  present  is  mainly  followed, 
with  side-lights,  however,  from  a  number  of  otli£r  aulhorilies. 


CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIN.  19 

but  such  as  was  accorded  them  by  their  fellow-tribes- 
men, though  when  once  constituted  they  had  a  power 
co-ordinate  with  that  of  the  folk-moot.  They  were 
chosen  usually  from  families  whose  blood  was  thought 
purest.  Their  sway  now,  however,  prevailed  in  times 
of  peace  as  well  as  war ;  or  rather,  since  in  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  great  island  war  never  died  out, 
though  it  might  have  intervals  of  slumber,  their 
authority  became  constant.  The  principle  of  hered- 
ity began  to  have  more  distinct  recognition.  The 
Cyningas,  Kings,  soon  claim  descent  from  Odin, 
barbarous  people  turning  readily  to  the  mythical. 
The  qualities  which  made  a  great  leader  conspicuous 
would  be  likely  to  be  found  in  his  line.  Some  kins- 
man, therefore,  by  no  means  necessarily  the  son,  —  for 
hell's  weak  and  mcked  were  for  centuries  passed  over, 
—  would  be  chosen  to  succeed  when  the  great  leader 
had  played  his  part.  The  comitatus,  too,  acquires 
in  the  conquest  greater  definiteness,  com-  ^^.j^j^^  ^^  ^^^ 
posed  of  youths  desiring  education  in  arms,  *^^sns- 
unpaid,  but  accepting  entertainment  and  gifts  of 
horses  and  weapons.  From  these  proceeds  the  class 
of  thegns,  —  as  regards  the  King,  servants  and  retain- 
ers ;  as  regards  the  people,  an  upper  class  supplant- 
ing the  ancient  sethelings, —  and  from  the  thegns,  as 
will  be  presently  seen,  a  memorable  development  will 
one  day  flow. 

In  the  almost  speechless  past  in  which  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  conquest  is  involved,  the  lispings  of  history 
became  at  last  audible.  Pope  Gregory  at  Rome,  be- 
holding in  the  slave  market,  among  the  captives  from 
foreign  lands,  the  blonde  Angles,  finds  it  possible  to 
beatify  them  by  so  simple  a  process  as  the  insertion 


20  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

of  a  letter.^  Augustine  accomplishes  his  great  con- 
conversion  of  "Vcrsion.  The  seething  discord  of  the  ear- 
SMOT^^to'  ^^Q&t  years  crystallizes  into  the  Heptarchy, 
Christianity.  ^^^  ^^  ^^iQ  Heptarchy  at  last,  the  vigor  of 
Egbert  achieves  the  supremacy  of  Wessex.  Up  to 
this  time,  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  the 
church,  the  two  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York 
at  the  head,  has  been  the  only  unity  among  the  dis- 
tracted English;  for  so  we  may  now  call  them.  With 
the  rise  of  Wessex  comes  about  a  political  unity. 
Throughout  these  confused  centuries  no  great  change 
in  institutions  takes  place,  though  names  are  trans' 
ferred,  and  a  general  consolidation  can  be  noticed. 
What  in  the  seventh  century  was  a  state  becomes,  in  the 
tenth,  a  shire,  while  the  shire  of  the  seventh  century 
drops  in  the  tenth  into  the  position  of  the  hundred. 
The  King,  partly  elective  and  partly  hereditary,  is 
at  the  top ;  below  him  the  land-owning  freemen, 
in  whose  tun-scipes  the  tie  of  neighborhood  seems 
entirely  to  have  replaced  the  earlier  tie  of  kinship. 
The  tun-moots  are  primary  assemblies,  the  moots  of 
hundred  and  shire  to  a  considerable  extent  represen- 
tative. A  nation  has  come  into  existence,  far  larger, 
both  as  regards  territory  and  numbers,  than  the  Teu- 
ton invaders  have  before  known.  Since  a  gather- 
ing of  freemen  into  a  great  folk-moot  has  become 
Thewitenage-  ^^^  longcr  possiblc,  in  its  place  is  found 
mote.  ^]^g   witenagemote,    meeting    of    the   wise, 

the  witan  consisting  of  the  King's  wife  and  sons,  the 
bishops,  the  ealdormen  of  the  shires,  and  a  number 
of  the  King's  friends  and  dependents.  No  formal 
denial  of  the  right  to  be  present  is  ever  made  as 

1  "  Non  Angli,  sed  angeli." 


CONQUEST   OF   BRITAIX.  21 

regards  the  masses  of  the  ceoiis,  but  it  comes  about 
that  only  the  rich  and  powerful  usually  appear.^  The 
witenagemote  inherits  much  of  the  power  of  the 
folk-moot,  choosing  for  example  the  King.  Following 
the  principle  of  hereditary  succession,  which  is  never 
set  aside  except  in  extraordinary  emergencies,  the 
kingship  is  restricted  to  one  family,  the  best  qualified 
person  who  stands  in  close  relationship  to  the  last 
King  being  chosen.  For  ages  to  come,  however,  the 
acknowledgment  or  recognition  by  a  crowd  of  plain 
men  gathered  about  the  coronation  chair,  expressed 
in  some  tumultuous  way,  is  never  omitted  —  a  more 
or  less  informal  but  quite  essential  supplement  to  the 
action  of  the  witan. 

In  America,  to-day,  the  President  once  chosen,  and 
the  Upper  House  with  the  long  term  of  its  members, 
form  a  much-valued  counterpoise  to  the  action  of  the 
popular  will  in  the  eyes  of  observers  who  may  be 
regarded  as  impartial.^  So,  probably,  in  the  later 
Anglo-Saxon  constitution,  the  King  and  the  witan 
formed  often  a  salutary  counterpoise  to  the  democ- 
racy. Radical  changes  from  the  ancient  ways  do 
not  appear,  though  new  applications  of  old  forms  and 
methods  are  not  rare.  If  grave  innovations  are  threat- 
ened, some  conservative  ruler  is  sure  to  work  of 
restore  things  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  ^'^'■^'^• 
ancient  course.  This  was  notably  the  case  with 
Alfred,  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  whose-  great- 
ness more  than  aught  else  consisted  in  this,  that  he 
knew  the  value  of  the  free  institutions  of  his  country. 

1  Freeman  :  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution,  p.  60,  etc. 

2  Sir  H.  Maine :  Popular  Government,  article  on  the  American  Con- 
stitution.   Bryce  :  American  Commonwealth,  I. 


^2  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

He  sought  not  to  make  new  laws  of  his  own  devising, 
"  when  it  was  unknown  to  him  what  of  them  woukl 
be  liked  by  those  who  should  come  after  him,"  but 
gave  all  his  efforts  toward  the  re-invigoration,  so  far 
as  circumstances  permitted,  of  the  primitive  institu- 
tions.^ 

It  cost  a  fierce  struggle  to  maintain  this  polity 
against  enemies  within,  a  still  fiercer  struggle  to 
maintain  it  against  enemies  without.  From  a  station 
in  the  west  of  England  once,  as  the  train  paused  for 
a  moment,  I  looked  across  a  league  or  more  of  coun- 
try, to  where  a  hill  sloped  steeply  up  from  the  plain. 
Standing  out  against  the  deep  green  turf  could  be 
seen  in  clear  outline  the  white  figure  of  a  horse,  each 
detail  remarkably  perfect  from  the  distance  at  whicli 
it  was  beheld.  A  thousand  years  or  more  had  passed 
since  the  surface  soil  had  been  scraped  away,  allowing 
the  chalk  substratum  to  appear  through  in  the  gigan- 
tic delineation;  for  it  is  said  to  have  been  done  by 
the  hands  of  Alfred's  Saxons,  victorious  close  by 
over  an  army  of  Danes.  But  the  Danes  were  not 
always  vanquished,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  seating 
upon  the  English  throne  princes  of  their  own  stock. 
Closely  allied  with  the  Saxons  though  they  were  in 
blood,  tongue,  and  institutions,  attachment  to  the 
ancient  order  seems  to  have  been  less  deeply  stamped 
Influence  of  ^^^  their  grain  ;  and  under  their  domination 
the  Danes.  j-^-^j^y  j^g  obscrvcd  the  threatening  progress 
of  an  innovation  which  was  destined  before  long  to 
supersede  utterly,  to  all  appearance,  Anglo-Saxon 
freedom.  Each  heretoga  had  had,  from  the  earliest 
times,  as  we  have  seen,  liis  gesith,  or  comitatus,  the 

1  Taswell-Laugmead  :  English  Constitutional  History,  p.  43. 


CONQUEST  OF  BRITAIN.  23 

company  of  warlike  youths  who  followed  his  banner, 
devoting  to  him  their  labor  and  valoi",  while  they 
received  in  return  from  him  entertainment  and  pro- 
tection. In  the  time  of  the  Danes  it  became  clear 
that  the  gesith  was  the  germ  of  a  growth  so  porten- 
tous as  the  feudal  system.  In  the  wars,  at  this  time 
especially  sharp,  the  ceorls  were  forced  to  "com- 
mend "  themselves  in  great  numbers  to  thegns,  receiv- 
ing protection  in  return  for  service,  now  with  the 
ploughshare,  now  with  the  spear,  in  the  fitful  alter- 
nation of  peace  with  strife.  Thus  the  ceorls  sank 
from  the  condition  of  pure  freemen  and  became  bound 
to  soil  and  lord.  The  change  by  no  means  involved 
an  entire  destruction  of  their  old  rights  :  they  retained 
their  land  free  as  against  all  men  but  their  lords,  and 
continued  to  regulate  their  own  affairs  as  before  in 
the  moots  of  tun,  hundred,  and  shire.^  There  was  a 
liability,  however,  as  never  before,  to  interference,  a 
liability  that  increased ;  for  the  hour  of  jncipient  feu- 
feudalism  was  at  hand.  In  the  time  of  'i^i'^™- 
Edward  the  Confessor  the  air  was  full  of  change. 
The  popular  elements  of  the  polity  were  becoming 
more  and  more  depressed ;  the  great  thegns,  depend- 
ents of  the  Sovereign,  pushed  aside  or  quite  super- 
seded the  ancient  aetheling ;  the  witenagemote  became 
more  and  more  a  royal  council,  to  which  gathered  only 
the  great  officers  of  the  realm.  Nevertheless,  a  rem- 
nant of  the  old  order  remained.  When  the  Avitan  had 
elected  the  King,  it  was  not  felt  that  the  action  Avas 
confirmed  until  the  ring  of  citizens  at  Westminster  or 
Winchester  had  shouted  their  acknowledgment  about 
the  coronation  chair.  At  Edward's  death,  the  nation 
1  Green  :  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  p.  245. 


24  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

exercised  its  sovereign  right  to  choose  a  ruler  to  its 
mind,  passing  by  the  next  of  kin  as  inefficient,  going 
even  beyond  the  royal  line,  to  place  the  crown  on 
the  brow  of  Harold.  More  than  all,  quite  beneath 
the  surface,  as  it  were,  each  village-moot  discussed 
and  voted,  and  from  each  went  forth  the  repre- 
sentatives to  speak  for  their  townsmen  in  the  larger 
sphere.  In  dark  centuries  that  were  to  come,  men 
often  recalled  with  fondness  the  laws  of  Edward 
the  Confessor^  and  demanded  their  restoration.  We 
reach  now  an  event  so  important  in  the  history  of 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom  that  it  will  be  in  place  to  give 
it  careful  consideration. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  25 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  BATTLE   OF  HASTINGS. 

1066. 

There  is  a  little  patch  of  a  square  mile  or  so,  in 
the  midst  of  the  rich  Sussex  landscape  in  England. 
Through  it,  in  low  ground,  sluggishly  p,^,^^^^^. 
flows  a  small  brook,  and  from  the  brook  f^g  fi^e°w  of 
ridges  slope  up  gently  on  either  hand.  It  ^^''i*'=- 
is  covered  for  the  most  part  with  the  green,  thick 
English  grass,  dotted  now  and  then  by  old  elms  and 
oaks.  A  gray,  half-ruined  wall,  toothed  with  battle- 
ments at  the  summit,  runs  along  one  verge  of  the 
field ;  and  there  are  two  or  three  old  towers,  forlorn, 
through  desertion  and  decrepitude,  as  Lears,  whose 
comforting  Cordelias  are  masses  of  close-clinging  ivy, 
—  wall  and  towei"S  suggesting  a  splendor  that  has 
now  departed.  What  happened  there  in  October,  1066, 
decided  some  important  things  ;  for  instance,  that  in 
the  sentence  that  is  now  being  written  there  should 
be  nineteen  words  of  Saxon  origin  and  four  of  Latin ; 
and  that  in  general,  when  we  write  and  talk,  about  a 
quarter  of  our  speech  should  be  derived  from  Rome, 
and  three-quarters  from  the  German  forests.  It  was 
decided  there,  in  fact,  that  those  of  us  of  English 
blood  are  what  we  are  in  mind  and  body,  —  a  cross, 
namely,  between  two  tough  stocks,  each  of  which 


26  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

contributed,  precious  qualities  of  brain  and  brawn  to 
form  a  race  which  in  the  nineteenth  century  should, 
stand,  so  high.  The  field  is  that  of  Hastings,  where 
the  Normans  under  William  beat  the  Saxons  under 
Harold.  Thence  came  a  blending  of  tongues  ;  thence 
a  blending  of  traits  —  on  the  one  hand  enterprise,  on 
the  other  sturdy  fortitude  —  into  a  national  character, 
too  full  of  spring  to  break,  too  hard  to  be  wasted,  as 
carbon  and  iron  blend  together  into  steel. 

One  day,  at  the  end  of  September,  I  stood  on  the 
beach  at  Hastings,  a  watering-place  of  some  fashion 
The  beach  at  0^1  the  soutli  coast  of  England.  It  was 
astings.  .^  slope  covcrcd  with  rough  shingle,  close 
upon  one  edge  of  which  crowded  the  blocks  of  the 
modern  town,  and  on  the  otlier,  the  waters  of  the 
English  Channel.  On  the  summit  of  a  high  cliff  to 
the  eastward  was  the  ruin  of  a  Norman  castle  —  cliff 
and  ruin  so  in  sympathy  through  a  long  community 
of  stormy  exposure,  that  the  turf  and  rock  of  the 
downs  seemed  to  rise  into  the  moss  and  masonry  with 
scarcely  a  percei:)tible  dividing  line.  In  front  lay  in 
the  motionless  air  the  wide  glassy  level  of  tlic  Chan- 
nel, with  the  horizon  line  blotted  out  by  the  afternoon 
haze.  Coasters  lay  at  anchor  off  the  beach,  somewliat 
dim,  with  tlieir  sails  hanging  slack.  There  was  a 
sound  of  oars  from  pleasure-l)oats,  and  as  I  stood  on 
the  beacli,  the  sailors  came  up  and  jn'cssed  me  to  row 
with  them.  Close  by,  among  the  many  promenaders, 
a  Sunday-school  from  an  interior  village  was  holding 
a  picnic.  A  day  or  two  before,  —  it  was  in  1870, — 
the  Prince  Imperial  from  France,  with  the  Empress, 
just  driven  from  Paris,  had  landed  in  Hastings  from 
Normandy  in  great  distress.     Mother  and  son  were 


BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  27 

still   in   the   town,  and  not  improbably  among  the 
groups  on  the  beach. 

It  was  in  a  different  way  that  a  prince  from  France 
landed  at  the  same  spot  eight  hundred  years  ago. 
Had  I  stood  then  on  the  shore  looking 
southward  through  precisely  such  Septem-  the  Normans 
ber  mist  upon  a  motionless  sea,  I  should 
have  seen  countless  sails  floating  up  in  the  offing ; 
and,  in  the  front  of  the  fleet,  an  ornamented  bark, 
with  a  great  cross  on  its  flag,  a  sail  marked  with  a 
coat  of  arms  of  three  lions,  and  on  the  prow  a  brazen 
child  holding  an  arrow  and  a  bow  bent  to  shoot. 
The  chronicler,  William  of  Malmesbury,  says  the 
sails  of  the  vessel  were  crimson.  These  were  kept 
turned  to  the  wind  and  aided  by  oars  until  finally  the 
keel  grated  upon  the  shore  ;  and  the  multitude  of 
craft  that  followed,  bringing  sixty  thousand  men, 
ranging  eastward  and  westward  for  miles  on  either 
hand,  were  beached  one  after  another  by  their  crews 
in  a  similar  manner.  Over  their  sides  instantly  sprang 
a  multitude  of  archers  ;  then  of  knights  ;  then  from 
the  holds  of  the  ships  were  led  the  horees,  full  of 
mettle  from  their  long  confinement,  which  pranced  on 
the  sand  and  filled  the  air  with  their  neighing.  Lastly, 
on  the  ship  whose  prow  bore  the  brazen 
child,  a  tall,  strong  man  approached  the  ofnukewn- 
side.  His  hair  and  beard  were  light,  his 
face  florid.  It  had  power  and  decision,  bespeaking  a 
character  fearless,  enterprising,  cruel.  As  he  leaped 
down  in  his  armor  from  the  low  vessel  upon  the  wet 
sand,  his  foot  slipped,  and  he  fell  forward  upon  his 
two  hands.  The  thousands  watching  him  from  the 
decks  of  the  vessels  and  from  the  beach  sent  up  at 


28  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

once  a  cry  of  distress ;  for  it  was  taken  as  a  sign  of 
evil  omen.  Several  of  the  chroniclers  say  it  was  a 
knight  standing  by  who  gave  a  favorable  turn  to  the 
incident  by  a  sudden  explanation ;  but  I  like  best  the 
account  of  Wace,  in  the  fine  old  "  Roman  de  Rou," 
whose  father  was  a  soldier  in  that  host,  and  had,  no 
doubt,  told  the  whole  story  to  the  son.  It  is  that  the 
strong  warrior  sprang  up  vigorously,  and  holding  on 
high  his  dripping  hands  full  of  wet  sand :  "  See,  my 
lords,"  he  cried,  "by  the  splendor  of  God,  I  have 
taken  possession  of  England  with  both  my  hands. 
It  is  now  mine,  and  what  is  mine  is  yours."  It  was 
Duke  William  of  Normandy.  How  he  and  his  fol- 
lowers looked,  with  their  kite-shaped  shields,  their 
helmets  with  the  "  nasals "  projecting  down  from 
the  front,  their  chain-armor,  their  boots  of  steel  or 
strips  of  variegated  cloth  wound  about  the  leg  from 
knee  to  ankle,  —  all  this  we  know  from  the  Bayeux 
tapestry.  What  they  said  and  did  was  rehearsed  at 
length  by  many  a  patient  monk,  and  far  more  pic- 
turesquely by  the  minstrels,  who  told  the  tale  to  the 
sound  of  the  harp  many  generations  after,  to  King  and 
noble.       The    Saxon    Kincj,    Harold,    was 

Difficult  situ-  .  TT  1  •         ^ 

ation  of  Har-    bcset  With  cncmies.     He  overthrew  m  the 

old. 

north  a  rival  claimant  t  but  it  was  at  that 
very  time  that  the  crimson  sail  came  leading  the 
Norman  fleet  from  the  southward,  when  the  Saxons, 
though  victorious,  were  weakened  and  disorganized. 
Harold,  however,  hurried  to  meet  the  new  enemy, 
leaving  behind,  in  his  impetuosity,  all  the  strength  of 
the  northern  counties.  He  made  a  hasty  levy  of 
forces  in  London  and  in  the  south,  and  came  swiftly 
towards  the  coast,  hoping  to  take  William  by  surprise. 


BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  29 

Finding  the  hope  vain,  he  drew  up  his  army  a  few- 
miles  from  the  shore  and  waited  for  the  Norman 
onset. 

Turning  from  the  calm  sea  and  the  beach  which 
those  historic  keels  had  grated,  I  followed  back  on 
William's  track  to  the  scene  of  the  engagement.  I 
rode  through  farms  and  handsome  estates  where  there 
was  nothing  to  suggest  what  filled  my  own  thoughts 
but  the  name  of  the  station  at  which  I  finally  alighted, 
—  Battle.  Thence  I  walked  into  the  High  Street  of 
the  little  town,  whose  existence  dates  back  even  to 
the  great  day,  when  it  was  called  Senlac.  Each 
receding  century  had  left  its  wave-mark  on  the  little 
ridge  where  ran  the  principal  street.  The  railroad 
depot  was  a  wrinkle  which  to-day  had  made,  and 
going  from  thence  there  were  waifs  deposited  now 
by  one  time  and  now  by  another.  There  was  a  por- 
tico on  which  beaux  of  George  the  Fourth's  time 
might  have  stood  in  surtouts  and  high  stocks ;  old 
thatched  roofs,  with  house-leek  green  among  the 
weather-beaten  mass,  that  came  from  a  hundred  years 
back;  projecting  upper  stories  from  Cromwell's  day. 
Close  to  the  church  I  got  glimpses  of  a  lovely  vicar- 
age, withdrawn  into  quiet,  whose  shadow-dappled 
front  had  the  elaborate  gables  and  oriel  windows 
above  and  below  that  marked  it  as  Elizabethan,  and 
the  church  itself  was  partly  at  least,  from  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses.  But  at  the  end  of  the  street  rose  a 
structure  so  massive  and  venerable  that  it  subordi- 
nated to  itself  the  whole  of  the  little  vil- 

Battle  Abbey. 

lage.     It  was  two-storied,  guarded  at  the 

ends  by  solid  turrets,  and  battlemented  at  the  top.    In 

the  centre  was  a  broad,  low-arched  gate,  above  which 


30  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  front  rose  sixty  feet  into  a  huge  square  tower. 
The  side  of  the  gateway  was  sculptured  with  the 
heads  of  Norman  kings  and  queens.  Everywhere 
over  the  front  the  weather  had  eaten  into  the  brown 
stone,  so  that  it  was  marked  and  crow's-footed  as  an 
old  man's  face.  There  was  no  decrepitude,  however, 
but  the  halest  old  age.  I  went  up  to  a  narrow  open 
door  close  by  the  broader  portal.  I  found  the  masonry 
was  many  feet  in  thickness,  and  the  doorstep  firm 
and  serviceable,  though  deeply  grooved  by  foot-beats. 
From  the  dim  room  beyond,  lit  by  slits  in  the  thick 
wall,  a  woman  came  forward  to  answer  my  inquiries. 
It  was  the  gateway  of  famous  Battle  Abbey,  built  by 
William  to  commemorate  the  victory  on  the  spot 
where  he  won  it.  Following  the  direction,  I  turned 
out  of  the  High  Street  into  a  footpath,  skirted  the 
enclosure  of  a  park,  with  a  ravine  to  the  right  which 
once  was  full  of  wounded  Saxons,  and  came  out  at 
last  upon  more  open  ground  —  a  ridge  of  greensward, 
with  now  and  then  a  tree,  the  ground  from  which 
descended  to  a  little  brook,  then  rose  again  into  an 
answering  ridge.  The  whole  was  traversed  here  and 
there  by  hedges ,  there  were  stacks  about  farm- 
houses ;  sometimes  the  brown  thatch  of  cottages  ;  to 
the  left,  the  irregular  line  of  the  ruined  abbey,  with 
the  fresher  buildings  of  a  nobleman's  seat  —  all  sweet 
under  the  subdued  light  of  the  autumn  afternoon. 
I  stood  on  the  spot  occupied  by  Harold's  vanguard, 
the  men  of  Kent. 

I  counsel  all  who  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Hastings 
to  take  as  a  ofuide  for  the  battle-field  the  old  "  Roman 
The  Roman  ^^^  Hou,"  either  tlic  translation,  or,  still 
deRou.  better,    the    original    Norman-French,    as 


BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  31 

Thierry  gives  it  in  an  appendix.^  A  little  previous 
study  will  make  it  intelligible  enough  to  a  reader  of 
ordinary  French ;  and  if  it  is  crossed  now  and  then 
by  an  obscurity,  the  fine  chivalric  picture  is  hardly 
injured.  It  is  like  the  fierce  beauty  of  a  knight's 
face  suggesting  itself  through  helmet-bars ;  and  the 
prompt  iambics  of  the  metre  strike  the  ear  with  a 
vigorous  music,  like  the  rhythmic  hoof-beat  of  a  troop 
ranging  for  a  charge.  I  could  easily  trace  from  point 
to  point  the  progress  of  the  battle.  Right  from  my 
position  had  the  handsome  King,  the  idol  of  his  peo- 
ple, run  his  simple  entrenchment,  —  a  line  of  stakes 
between  which  osiers  were  twisted.  This  marked  the 
front  of  the  position ;  and  about  the  knoll  to  the  left, 
a  stronger  and  higher  enclosure  of  the  same  sort 
seems  to  have  been  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
Saxon  standard,  —  the  figure  of  a  fighting  man  em- 
broidered upon  a  banner  and  richly  set  with  The  two  ar- 
gems  and  gold.  The  Norman  monk.  Or-  "^^^^  "ppoo^d. 
dericus  Vitalis,  while  condemning  Harold  as  cruel  and 
perjured,  shows  him  in  attractive  colors.  He  had  a  fine 
mind  and  ready  eloquence,  was  intrepid  and  courteous, 
stalwart  in  figure,  and  of  great  strength.  He  appears 
in  the  Bayeux  tapestry  in  a  tunic  of  iron  rings,  and 
probably  on  the  battle  day  wore  his  crown  upon  his 
helmet,  as  was  the  custom  of  Kings  of  his  race.  The 
banner  shone  and  sparkled  above  a  strong,  yellow- 
haired  host,  among  whose  weapons  the  two-handed 
axe  was  conspicuous.  Their  shields  were  round, 
with  a  boss  in  the  centre.  Probably,  since  the  levies 
came  in  hastily  at  the  King's  call,  some  wore  the 

1  Creasy  gives  much  of  it  in  the  "Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the 
World." 


32  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM, 

ancient  picturesque  Saxon  armor,  described  by  Sir 
Samuel  Meyrick,^  heirlooms  from  warriors  who  had 
fought  against  the  Danes,  —  plates  of  tough,  hard 
leather  overlying  one  another  on  a  long-skirted  tunic, 
leaf-shaped  and  stained  variously,  brown,  orange,  or 
scarlet,  so  that  the  men  must  have  seemed  to  have 
clothed  themselves  from  the  October  woods  that  were 
gorgeous  about  them.  Raising  my  eyes  and  glancing 
across  to  the  opposite  slope,  I  tried  to  call  up  a  vision 
of  the  Norman  columns,  troops  of  horsemen  in  steel, 
with  front  and  flanks  guarded  by  archers  and  pike- 
men  in  quilted  coats  or  girt  about  with  hides.  I 
thought  I  could  nearly  fix  the  spot  where  the  duke, 
putting  on  his  hauberk,  threw  it  over  his  shoulder,  the 
back  side  in  front.  Those  who  stood  near  were  sorely 
alarmed  at  the  bad  omen,  as  at  the  landing ;  but  the 
ready  leader  changed  it  in  an  instant,  crying  out: 
"  The  hauberk  which  was  turned  wrong  by  me  and 
then  set  right  signifies  that  a  change  will  take  place 
out  of  the  matter  which  is  now  stirring.  We  shall 
see  the  name  of  duke  changed  to  King."  The  duke 
then  mounted  his  Spanish  charger  and  careered  before 
his  retinue,  who  burst  forth  into  impetuous  tribute 
to  his  strength  and  prowess. 

Down  the  slope  there,  at  nine  o'clock,  moved  the 
Norman  lines.  But  the  page  of  battle  about  to  be 
written  in  blood  was  illuminated  at  its  edge  with  pic- 
The  minstrel  turesquc  poctry.  The  minstrel  Taillefer, 
Taiiiefer.  having  begged  the  boon  of  William,  sud- 
denly spurred  forward  to  within  a  few  paces  of  the 
waiting  Saxons,  pausing,  I  conjectured,  a  few  rods 
down  the  slope  from  where  I  sat.  Tliere  he  sang  the 
1  Antient  Armour,  I,  p.  liiii,  introduction. 


BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  33 

song  of  Roland  and  the  peers  of  Charlemagne,  engag- 
ing meantime  in  single  combats,  until  at  length  he 
fell  under  a  lance-thrust.  Says  the  "Roman  de 
Rou":  — 

"Taillefer,  ki  mult  bien  cantout, 
Sor  un  cheval  ki  tost  alout, 
Devant  li  dus  alout  cantant 
De  Karlemaine  e  de  Eollant, 
E  d' Oliver  e  des  vassals 
Ki  morurent  en  Renchevals. 


Sires,  dist  Taillefer,  mierci, 
Jo  vos  ai  lungement  servi ; 

Otreiz  mei,  ke  jo  n'i  faille, 
Li  primier  colp  de  la  bataille." 


The  battle  now  began  with  the  utmost  fierceness. 
Over  the  slopes  the  trumpets  rang,  the  tramp  of  the 
horses  resounded  hollow  on  the  earth,  the  shields 
echoed,  struck  by  swords  and  maces.  Like  swarms 
of  migrating  wild  fowl,  the  feathered  arrows  of  the 
archers  sounded  through  the  air,  which  they  dark- 
ened by  their  number.  The  Normans  shouted  their 
war-cry,  "  God  aid  us ! "  The  Saxons  clamored  in 
return,  "  Out,  out,  Holy  Cross  !  God  Almighty  !  "  The 
"  Roman  de  Rou  "  is  here  most  pleasantly  quaint :  — 

"  'Olicrosse,  'sovent  crioent ; 
E'Godemite,  'reclamoent ; 
'Olicrosse,  'est  en  engleiz 
Ke  Sainte  Croix  est  en  franceiz, 
E'Godemite,  'altretant 
Com  en  franceiz  Dex  tot  poissant." 


34  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

The  wicker-woik,  whicli  with  modern  arms  would 
be  so  feeble  a  barrier,  was  to  the  Normans  a  most  for- 
midable obstacle.  From  nine  o'clock  until 
situation  of  uoou  there  was  no  advantage  on  either  side. 
Then,  however,  a  troop  of  Bretons  under 
Eustace,  Count  of  Boulogne,  which  had  been  specially 
engaged,  fell  back  before  the  Saxons  in  almost  utter 
rout.  In  the  low  ground,  his  followei"s  became  in- 
volved in  ditches  and  in  the  brook,  and  perished  by 
the  hundred.  Utter  defeat  seemed  to  lie  before  the 
invaders.  Bishop  Odo  of  Bayeux,  William's  brother, 
with  a  white  ecclesiastical  dress  sweeping  about  his 
stately  figure,  but  wearing  a  hauberk  as  well  and  with 
a  mace  swinging  at  his  wrist,  dashed  oil  a  white  horse 
into  the  confusion,  crying,  "  Stand  fast ! "  William, 
too,  who  had  been  supposed  to  be  slain,  flung  his 
helmet  from  him,  and  with  head  bare,  stopped  the 
flight.  "  I  am  here  !  "  he  cried.  "  Look  at  me  ;  I  live, 
and  will  conquer !  "  Throughout  the  afternoon  the 
clang  of  the  conflict  was  unabated.  Somewhere 
toward  four  o'clock,  it  is  probable,  took  place  the  event 
which  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  William,  observ- 
ing that  the  shafts  of  the  archers,  shot  horizontally, 
stuck  in  the  osiers  and  did  little  harm,  ordered  that 
they  should  be  shot  upward,  that  they  might  descend 
vertically  upon  the  heads  of  tlie  Saxons.  Aloft  flew 
Harold  ^^®  arrows.     Harold,  looking  up  unwarily, 

wounded.  reccivcd  one  in  his  left  eye.  Blinded,  and 
crazed  with  pain,  he  drew  it  out,  and  leaned  exhausted 
upon  his  shield.  Just  here  the  Normans  practised  a 
stratagem  with  results  to  them  most  fortunate.  Their 
horsemen  feigned  a  retreat  in  great  confusion  into 
the  low  ground,  leaving  their  archers  behind  them. 


The  rout  of 
the  Saxons. 


BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS.  35 

The  Saxons,  unrestrained  now  that  Harold  was 
wounded,  rushed  down  the  hill  in  disorderly  pursuit, 
—  "  like  sand  without  lime,"  is  the  graphic  phrase  of 
Matthew  of  Westminster.  At  a  signal  from  William, 
the  knights  returned  on  the  gallop  and  swept  round 
them;  then,  fighting  backward,  Norman  and  Saxon 
entered  the  entrenchment  together. 

The  closing  scenes  are  made  sadly  vivid  in  the  old 
tales.  The  men  of  Kent  who  survived,  and  the  levies 
of  Essex  and  Sussex  collected  with  the 
bleeding  Harold  at  the  foot  of  the  gleam- 
ing standard.  Covered  with  sweat  and  blood,  they 
shouted  cries  of  defiance  that  the  Normans  compared 
to  the  barking  of  dogs.  But  the  knights  came  charg- 
ing, William  at  the  head  fighting  like  a  common  man- 
at-arms.  The  sun  had  sunk  below  the  level  of  the 
woods.  Twenty  Norman  knights,  devoting  themselves 
to  death  or  victory,  made  their  way  to  the  standard's 
foot.  The  blinded  King  struck  wildly  at  his  foes ; 
but  a  blow  on  the  helmet  felled  him,  and  the  sword 
of  a  knight  cut  his  thigh  through  to  the  bone.  In 
the  twilight  the  last  resistance  was  beaten  down, 
and  a  group  of  exhausted  men  stood  with  uncertain 
footing  upon  the  heap  of  corpses.  The  standard  of 
the  dead  Harold  fell,  and  that  of  William  took  its 
place. 

"Then  the  duke  took  off  his  armor,  and  the 
Barons  and  knights  came,  when  he  had  unstrung  his 
shield,  and  took  the  helmet  from  his  head  and  the 
hauberk  from  his  back,  and  saw  the  heavy  blows 
upon  his  shield  and  how  his  helmet  was  dinted  in, 
and  all  greatly  wondered,  and  said:  '  Such  a  Baron 
never  bestrode  war-horse,  nor  dealt  such  blows,  nor 


36  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

did  such  feats  of  arms;  neither  has  there  been  on 
earth  such  a  knight  since  Roland  and  Oliver.'  And 
the  duke  stood  meanwhile  among  them,  of  noble 
stature  and  mien,  and  rendered  thanks  to  the  King 
of  Glory  through  whom  he  had  the  victory,  and  he 
ate  and  drank  among  the  dead,  and  slept  that  night 
upon  the  field." 

William  was  fierce  as  the  lions  which  he  had 
chosen  for  his  escutcheon ;  but  there  is  a  superb 
strength  in  the  historic  figure.  He  had  begun  to  take 
on  some  superficial  refinement  and  accomplishment, 
just  as  upon  the  steel  of  his  armor  were  embossed 
some  few  lines  of  ornament  —  a  fine  type  of  the  Norse 
barbarian,  whose  tumultuous  forces  were  beginning 
to  be  steadied  and  calmed  for  the  ruling  of  the  world. 
No  doubt  he  was  a  sad  scourge  to  his  new  domain  ; 
and  yet  it  is  not  slight  praise  which  our  infant  history 
accords  him,  pleasantly  lisping  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
chronicle :  "  Man  mihte  faran  ofer  his  rice  mid  his 
bosme  fullum  goldes  ungedered  "  (  "  One  might  go 
through  his  kingdom  full  of  gold  unharmed  ")  ;  and 
a  passing  flush  of  genial  poetry  burns  momentarily 
in  the  dry,  meagre  record  in  the  passage  :  "  He  loved 
the  tall  deer  as  if  he  were  their  father." 

This  is  the  story  whose  outline  I  read  on  the  ridge, 
sitting  where  waited  the  Kentish  vanguard  for  the 
Norman  charge.  I  went  slowly  down  the 
w^r^the  bau^  liill  iu  tlic  track  of  Eustace  and  his  routed 
troops  to  the  spot  where  they  were  massa- 
cred. Centuries  after,  in  wet  weather,  the  brook 
was  believed  to  flow  witli  a  reddish  tinge,  remember- 
ing the  ancient  slaughter.  As  I  saw  it,  its  bed 
was  nearly  dry,  and  in  it  grew  osiers,  descendants, 


BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  37 

perhaps,  of  slips  that  were  woven  into  Harold's 
entrenchment,  as  I  pleased  myself  with  fancying  I 
might  be  a  descendant  of  a  tattooed  ceorl  of  Kent 
that  stood  sheltered  behind  them.  It  must  have 
been  just  here  that  Odo,  the  bishop,  rode  forward 
with  his  mace ;  and  here  that  the  Spanish  charger 
pranced  in  the  morning,  and  the  eager  Barons  burst 
out  rapturously  over  their  leader's  beauty  and  man- 
hood. The  gray  ruin  of  the  abbey  now  lay  opposite ; 
among  constructions  of  a  more  recent  date,  a  broken 
wall,  an  ivy-covered  turret,  a  mouldering  gable 
pierced  here  and  there  with  the  rounded  Norman 
arch.  It  was  just  there,  where  within  the  wall  a  rem- 
nant of  the  high  altar  yet  remains,  that  the  gems 
and  gold  of  the  Saxon  standard  flashed  over  the 
combat.  That  night  there  was  scarcely  a  soul  in 
sight.  Lovely  upon  the  trees,  here  and  there  yellow 
and  scarlet,  where  the  autumn  was  even  then  kin- 
dling, was  the  sunlight  through  the  haze.  The  quiet 
fields  sloped  smoothly  to  the  brook,  welted  down  to 
the  hillsides  by  the  long  hedges,  and  bossy  with  oaks 
and  elms.  The  old  battle-field  was  indeed  at  peace. 
Riding  back  to  London  in  the  dusk,  I  found  myself 
imagining  that  the  rounding  of  the  hills,  the  wide 
moor,  the  patches  of  woodland,  might  be  somewhat 
as  they  were  when  out  from  all  this  country  the  faith- 
ful levies  came  gathering  to  Harold's  side.  Old  oaks 
were  in  the  fields,  which  possibly  may  even  then  have 
been  standing ;  or  whose  parent  acorns,  at  least, 
dropped  from  branches  beneath  whose  shade,  as  the 
King  rushed  too  hotly  southward,  tired  footmen 
might  have  fallen  out  to  rest  their  blistered  feet. 


38  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MAGNA  CHARTA    AND   THE  RISE   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

William  1, 1066.  Stephen,  1135.  John,  1199. 

William  II,  1087.  Henry  II,  1154.  Henry  III,  1216. 

Henry  I,  1100.  Richard  I,  1189.  Edward  1, 1272. 

The  ancient  popular  government  underwent  a  great 
submergence  through  the  Normans.     These  invaders, 
originally  Scandinavian  rovers,  and  prob- 
of  popular       ably  then  scarcely,  if  at  all,  distinguish- 
through  feu-     able  from  the  Danes,  so  long  the  scourge 

dalism.  .  °  .  " 

of  England,  had  been  in  contact  with  the 
Franks,  a  German  tribe,  which  after  having  con- 
quered the  Romanized  Gauls,  had  undergone  through 
the  vanquished  very  considerable  modification,  blend- 
ing with  them  into  one  people,  assuming  their  lan- 
guage and  many  of  their  institutions.  The  Franks, 
in  their  turn,  had  wrought  with  a  curious  power, 
during  a  century  and  a  half,  upon  the  followers  of 
Rolf  the  Ganger,  the  successful  freebooter  to  whom 
had  been  ceded  Northwestern  France,  until  in  1066 
William  and  his  followers  had  accepted  the  tongue 
and  customs  of  those  who  had  been  subdued.  The 
Frankish  polity,  adopted  by  the  Normans,  had  early 
shown,  even  before  the  emigrations  from  Germany, 
a  difference  from  that  of  tlie  Saxons.  In  the  former 
the  authority  of  the  King  was  at  first  a  well-marked 
feature,  for  which,  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  must  be 


MAGNA  CHARTA.  39 

supplied,  as  we  have  seen,  the  rule  of  the  elected  here- 
togas,  or  of  the  folk-moot ;  but  as  time  proceeds,  the 
authority  of  the  King  among  the  Franks  diminishes. 
Feudalism  (plain  signs  of  which,  developed  from  the 
ancient  institution  of  the  comitatus,  are  traceable  in 
Saxon  England,  particularly  under  the  rule  of  the 
Danish  Kings),  had  received  among  the  Franks  a 
much  more  thorough  development.  The  great  vassals 
almost  equalled  the  King. 

The  Roman  custom  of  granting  lands  to  be  held 
by  tenure  of  military  service,  combined  with  the  Teu- 
tonic comitatus  to  produce  Frankish  feudalism.  But 
feudalism  never  prevailed  in  England  to  the  extent 
that  it  did  upon  the  continent ;  the  Kings  managed, 
except  for  one  reign,  to  keep  great  power  in  their 
own  hands,  and  were  not  overawed  by  vassals. 

Although  causing  such  woe  to  the  vanquished,  and 
overlying  so  thoroughly  for  the  time  being  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  the  effect  of  the  Norman  ultimate  good 
conquest,  viewed  in  the  historic  perspec-  mM°con.'^°'' 
tive,  was  only  good.  It  created  in  Eng-  ^"'^*^- 
land  a  sense  of  unity  which  before  had  been  lacking. 
By  mingling  their  strain  with  that  of  the  English, 
the  Normans  added  fire  and  vigor  to  the  stock.  So 
far  as  they  remained  distinctly  Norman,  they  pro- 
voked and  stimulated  the  energies  of  the  vanquished, 
even  by  their  opposition  and  oppression.  Before 
leaving:  Normandy,  William  had  ruled  his 

Character  of 

people  as  a  personal  sovereign,  with   the  wiiiiam's 
advice  and  consent  of  a  council  of  great 
Barons  who  stood  to  him  in  a  feudal  relation.     The 
mass  of  the  people  were  cultivators,  living  in  strict 
dependence  upon  the  lords,  to  whose  standards  they 


40  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

might  at  any  moment  be  rallied,  either  for  defence 
or  the  foray,  now  and  then  remembering  something 
of  the  ancient  Teutonic  freedom,  but  with  nothing  at 
all  corresponding  to  the  vigorous  folk  moot,  the  self- 
government  which  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  maintained. 
The  vassal  must  serve  the  lord ;  the  lord  must  pro- 
tect and  also  judge  the  vassal. 

To  an  observer  studying  the  period  superficially,  it 
would  seem  that  popular  freedom  gives  no  trace  of 
itself  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  until  in  the 
exaction  of  Magna  Charta  took  place  a  memorable 
outburst  of  the  ancient  spirit.  That,  however,  was 
by  no  means  unprepared,  and  we  have  now  briefly  to 
trace  the  indications  of  a  free  life  that  persisted  un- 
crushed  beneath  the  superincumbent  mass  that  had 
overwhelmed  it.  To  all  appearance,  indeed,  nothing 
could  be  more  arbitrary  than  William's  rule.  He 
became  the  supreme  landlord  of  the  kingdom.  All 
the  common  land  of  the  nation  became  his  absolutely; 
and  all  land  which  had  been  appropriated,  it  was 
necessary  now  to  hold  from  him  mediately,  if  not 
immediately,  for  between  him  and  the  mass  of  the 
people,  rank  stood  beneath  rank  in  the  feudal  subor- 
dination. In  place  of  the  countless  free-holders  of 
the  former  time  came  fifteen  hundred  tenants-in-chief, 
on  the  one  hand  owning  the  suzerainty  of  the  King, 
on  the  other  hand  exacting  from  liege-men,  grade 
Domesday  bclow  grade,  tribute  and  homage.  In  a 
Book.  quiet  room  in  Fetter  Lane  in  London,  in 

the  Public  Record  Office,  where  are  preserved  the 
archives  of  England,  one  may  see  to-day  the  famous 
Domesday  Book,  in  which  the  clerks  of  William 
made  the  record  of  the  great  survey  and  division  by 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  41 

which  this  vast  re-appropriation  of  England  was  ac- 
complished. The  attendant  takes  it  for  you  out  of 
its  case  of  silver  and  glass,  a  massive  volume,  the 
inscription  upon  whose  parchment  leaves  is  as  hand- 
some and  vivid  as  when  the  eyes  of  the  Conqueror 
passed  down  the  lines,  to  see  that  all  was  in  order. 
As  you  behold  it,  an  awe  strikes  you ;  for  it  is  the 
very  foundation  of  England,  in  one  sense,  upon  which 
your  eyes  are  fastened.  Thousands  of  the  conquered, 
dispossessed,  fled  northward  to  the  Scottish  lowlands ; 
thousands  more,  once  free  ceorls,  sank  to  the  condi- 
tion of  villeins  and  serfs  ;  while  the  remnant  that  suf- 
fered less,  were  still  in  every  way  humiliated,  in  the 
grasp  of  the  rapacious  and  insolent  horde  who  had 
fought  with  William  at  Senlac. 

Nevertheless,  a  careful  eye  to-day  will  see  that 
William  disturbed  as  little  as  he  could  the  ancient 
customs.  At  his  coronation,  he  scrupulously  observed 
the  ancient  Saxon  usage.  He  was  elected  at  West- 
minster by  the  witan,  and  accepted  afterward  by  the 
concourse  of  people,  —  the  form  which  had  come  to 
stand  in  place  of  the  national  recognition. 
The  moots  of  shire,  hundred,  and  tun  re-  ancient  insti- 

T  , ,  .  c    ,  1      •       c  tutions  in  tun, 

tamed  sometmncf  oi  their  former   power,  hundred,  and 

shire. 

In  a  dim  way  the  oppressed  people  felt 
that  the  King  was  a  well-wisher  to  them,  at  any  rate 
as  compared  with  his  lords,  the  hated  masters  with 
whom  they  were  immediately  in  contact;  and  the 
King  could  rely  on  the  bulk  of  the  people  in  all 
struggles  with  the  great  vassals,  in  spite  of  feudal 
obligations  to  the  immediate  suzerains.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  system  had  been  strongest  in  the  cohesion  of 
its  lower  organism,  the  association  of  individuals  in 


42  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  township,  wapentake,  and  shire ;  the  Norman 
system  was  strongest  in  the  higher  ranges,  in  the 
close  rehition  of  the  sovereign  to  the  tenants-in-chief. 
When  the  Latter  system  was  superimposed  upon  the 
former,  the  best  elements  of  both  were  brought  to- 
gether, the  weaker  in  each  case  disappearing.  The 
dumb  life  of  the  Norman  masses  was  superseded  by 
the  vigorous  local  self-government  of  the  popular 
moots,  with  tlieir  constant,  tumultuous,  character- 
forming  discussion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  somewhat 
shadowy  Saxon  King,  doubtfully  more  powerful  than 
his  great  earls,  gave  way  to  the  Norman  monarch, 
supreme  above  the  strongest  baron,  who  owed  him 
definite  allegiance.^ 

William   Rufus,   Henry  I,   and   Steplien,  the   two 
sons  and  grandson  of  the  Conqueror,  constitute,  with 

the  great  leader  of  the  line,  the  Norman 
the  King's        dynasty.     With  them  the  claim  to  rule  is 

by  no  means  the  jiis  divinum,  the  divine 
rigiit.  If  the  Kings  could  have  succeeded  by  the  law 
of  inheritance  solely,  liberty  would,  no  doubt,  have 
perished;  but  the  election  at  the  coronation  in  the 
case  of  each  was  carefully  observed.  It  appeared, 
perhaps,  to  be  a  mere  perfunctory  ceremony,  but  it 
had  by  no  means  lost  all  of  its  earlier  real  importance. 
With  the  election,  took  place  the  formal  acceptance 
l)y  a  crowd  gathered  from  the  neighborhood,  who 
stood  for  the  people.  The  oath  to  govern  well  was 
taken,  and  a  solemn  promise  made  to  observe  ancient 
ways.  It  all  forni(Ml  an  important  acknowledgment 
of  the  rights  of  tlie  nation  and  a  recognition  of  the 
duties  of  the   sovereign.     Tlie   power   to   elect   and 

1  Stubbs :  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  278. 


MAGNA   CIIARTA.  43 

approve  implied  at  the  same  time  a  power  to  depose ; 
and  the  fact  that  there  were  in  every  case  others 
who,  by  blood,  were  as  near  the  throne  as  the  actual 
occupant,  kept  this  power  always  in  mind.  The 
right  of  inheritance  was  held  to  be  co-ordinate  with 
election ;  the  witenagemote  remained  substantially 
as  before  the  conquest ;  no  trace  existed  there  of  a 
representation  of  the  free-holders  in  general ;  but 
though  not  yet  traceable  in  the  central  council,  rep- 
resentation was  familiar  enough  in  the  lower  courts. 

In    thoroughly   developed    feudalism,    the    King, 
though  at  the  top  of  the  structure,  is  scarcely  more 
powerful  than  his  great  vassals.     Against 
this  danger  both  sons  of  the   Conqueror  of  feudalism 
were  forced  to  struggle,  finding  means  to 
resist  in  the  help  of  the  people,  which  help,  the  Kings, 
in  the  midst  of  their  oppressions,  were  forced  to  pay 
back  by  acts  of  grace.    William  Rufus  testified  to  the 
nation  that  he  had  duties  and  they  had  rights.    Henry  I 
promised  peace  and  good  coinage,  and  restored  the 
working  of  the  lower  moots  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Confessor.    In  the  time  of  Stephen,  feudalism  had  its 
way.    His  great  liegemen,  entrenched  in  their  castles 
with  which  all  England  began  to  bristle,  contested 
the  authority  of  the  suzerain,  while  they  ground  the 
people  below  them  into  the  dust.     The  misery  of  the 
land,  though  so  cruel,  was  yet  in  the  end  beneficent ; 
it  was  so  intolerable  that  something  better  must  come 
perforce.     The  great  Henry  II,  first  of  the 
Plantagenet  Kings  (1154-1189),  disarmed  presses  the 

,         J,        ,    ,  -  11.  great  vassals. 

the  leudai  party,  destroyed  their  strong- 
holds, banished  the  mercenaries  with  whom  the  lords 
had  confronted  the  Sovereign,  and  showed  an  inten- 


44  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

tion  of  ruling  by  means  of,  if  not  under  the  control 
of,  the  national  council.  He  brought  it  about  that 
juries  of  twelve  men  of  the  hundred  and  four  men  of 
the  township  should  present  before  the  justice  all 
persons  accused  of  felony  by  popular  report;  thus 
the  people  were  distinctly  recognized,  and  an  impor- 
tant training  prepared  through  which  they  became 
fitted  for  work  that  was  to  come  for  them  in  better 
days  that  were  approaching. 

The  Curia  Regis,  the  King's  Court,  must  by  no 
means  escape  our  notice.  Through  this  was  exer- 
The  Curia  ciscd  the  judicial  power  of  the  King.  The 
Regis.  justices,  while  at  work  in  the  provinces, 

sat  in  the  shire-moot,  in  which,  besides  the  local  mag- 
nates, sat  also  the  reeve  and  four  men  and  the  parish 
priest  from  each  township,  after  the  venerable  custom. 
The  Parliament,  the  upspringing  of  which  we  shall 
have  presently  to  study,  was,  when  it  came,  a  combi- 
nation of  local  representatives  with  the  council  of 
great  men  of  the  land.  It  was  no  short  step  toward 
that  when  the  Curia  Regis  and  the  shire-moot  came 
together.  The  shire-moot  had  undergone  no  change, 
but  was  held  "as  in  King  Edward's  day,  and  not 
otherwise."  Twice  a  year  it  assembled,  the  lords  of 
the  land  an(i  their  stewards  appearing  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  representatives  of  hundreds  and  townships,  on 
the  other.  The  ancient  tun-scipes,  to  be  sure,  were 
now  called  manors,  and  were  held  by  lords  infeoffed 
by  feudal  grant.  Of  these  manors,  there  were  1422 
in  the  ancient  demesne  of  tlie  crown.  lUit  their  courts 
haron  were  the  primitive  moots,  the  units  of  the 
ancient  Anglo-Saxon  polity.  Multitudes  of  the  free- 
holders had  been  depressed  into  villeinage,  their  chil- 
dren inheriting  the  debased  station. 


MAGNA  CHARTA.  45 

Different  grades  can  be  made  out  obscurely  among 
these  dependents,  —  liheri  homines,  sokemen,  cotarii, 
bordariU  and  thrall;  but  the  Norman  lord 

,,    .  Serfdom. 

was  disposed  to  depress  all  into  one  class, 
—  that  of  serfs,  bound  to  the  soil,  and  under  obligation 
to  render  service.  Nevertheless,  the  primitive  funda- 
mental organization  was  not  obliterated.  Towns  now 
were  growing  rich  and  important,  and  at  this  time 
preserved  the  traditions  of  Teutonic  liberty  more  per- 
fectly than  the  shires ;  for  the  burgesses,  in  the  case 
of  the  larger  ones,  had  a  moot  answering  to  the  shire- 
moot,  and  also  a  moot  of  the  ward  answering  to  that 
of  the  hundred  or  wapentake.  In  the  case  of  smaller 
boroughs  scattered  through  the  provinces,  the  consti- 
tution was  that  of  the  hundred  rather  than  the  town- 
ship. The  condition  of  the  serf  was  not  utterly  with- 
out hope ;  for  if  he  could  but  obtain  admission  into 
a  merchant-guild  or  club,  and  remain  for  a  year  and  a 
day  unclaimed  by  his  lord,  he  was  free.  The 
practice  of  trial  by  jury  strengthened  now 
the  impulse  toward  freedom.  Stubbs  derives  it  from 
the  Franks,  with,  perhaps,  some  distant  relationship 
to  the  Roman  law.  Though  introduced  at  the  con- 
quest, it  does  not,  until  Henry  II,  become  a  settled 
institution.  Henceforth,  hoAvever,  there  lay  upon 
every  common  man  the  liability  to  act  as  a  judge, 
even  in  cases  of  life  and  death.  To  do  such  service 
fell  within  each  man's  experience,  —  perhaps  to  do  it 
many  times.  How  salutary  the  discipline,  even  though 
the  wisest  decision  may  not  be  always  reached ! 

The  ancient  freedom,  therefore,  was  by  no  means 
dead  beneath  its  superincumbent  burden,  but  simply 


46  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

oppressed  and  hidden.  It  needs  no  long  searcliing  to 
find  it  in  the  days  when  feudalism  was  heaviest,  and 
in  the  great  thirteenth  century,  at  the  first  opportunity 
it  gives  plain  manifestation  of  itself.  With  the  last 
Accession  of  J^^^  o^  the  twelfth  centur}^  we  reach  the 
John.  important  reign  of  John,  which  was  ush- 

ered in  by  a  circumstance  full  of  good  omen.  At 
the  coronation,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  if 
the  neglect  of  duty  and  rapacity  of  Richard  I  had 
shown  the  need  of  a  reassertion  of  the  ancient  safe- 
guards, declared  that  the  right  to  reign  comes  to  no 
man  by  birth,  but  is  conferred  by  election,  which  the 
nation  makes  after  invoking  the  Holy  Ghost.  On 
the  4th  of  August,  1213,  a  national  council  took  place 
at  St.  Albans,  to  assess  damages  done  to  the  church, 
in  which  not  merely  bishops  and  barons  were  present, 
but  each  township  on  the  royal  demesne  sent  its  rep- 
resentatives, the  traditional  reeve  and  four  men. 
Here,  for  the  first  time,  we  have  historical  proof  of 
the  summoning  of  representatives  in  any  shape  to  the 
national  council.  It  was,  without  doubt,  intended 
that  they  should  appear  merely  as  witnesses ;  but  it 
was  important.  For  the  last  two  or  three  reigns  the 
divided  nation  had  been  growing  together.  French 
and  Anglo-Saxon  were  blending  fast  into  one  speech ; 
conquerors  and  conquered  were  becoming  mutually 
interfused  with  one  another's  blood;  community  of 
perils  and  interests  was  bringing  about  an  interchange 
of  sympathy.  At  last,  witli  the  loss  of  Normandy, 
the  circumstance  ceased  to  exercise  an  influence 
which  till  now  had  caused  the  conqviering  race  to 
feel  a  divided  patriotism.  Like  the  conquered,  they 
were  to  have  no  land  henceforth  but  England,  and 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  47 

high  and  low  extended  hands  to  one  another  as  had 
not  been  done  before.  We  reach  at  length  the  15th 
of  June,  1215. 

Whoever  stands  on  the  great  round  tower  of 
Windsor  Castle,  has  under  his  eyes  one  of  the  most 
interesting  landscapes  of  the  world.  The 
fairest  part  of  England  is  spread  out  under  "^"^y™®  *• 
his  feet,  through  which  winds  the  Thames  eastward  to 
where,  on  the  horizon's  edge,  the  bank  of  cloud  and 
smoke  marks  the  site  of  London.  Not  a  point  of  the 
view  but  causes  a  thrill  through  great  associations. 
The  old  tower  here  marks  the  churchyard  of  Stoke- 
Pogis,  where  Gray  wrote  his  Elegy.  The  group  of 
buildings '  close  at  hand  are  Eton  school,  where,  for 
four  hundred  years,  the  privileged  boys  of  England 
have  taken  their  start  as  they  grew  up,  so  many  of 
them,  into  great  historic  figures.  The  landmark 
yonder  stands  on  a  field  once  bloody,  where  the  Red 
and  White  Roses  clashed.  The  chapel  at  your  feet 
holds  the  tombs  of  Tudors,  of  Stuarts,  and  of  the 
house  of  Brunswick.  There  is  no  spot,  however,  in 
the  wide  prospect,  upon  Avhich  the  eyes  of  thoughtful 
men  are  likely  to  rest  longer,  than  a  j)atch  of  bright 
green  grass,  seen  among  the  darker  foliage  of  a  forest, 
at  the  distance  of  a  league  or  so,  —  a  spot  which  still 
bears  the  name  of  Runny mede.  Here  the  tyrant 
John  was  forced  to  meet  his  Barons  and  grant  to 
them  Magna  Charta.  To  extort  it  was  "  the  first  act 
of  the  united  nation,  —  the  Church,  the  Barons,  and 
the  Commons,  for  the  first  time  thorougUy  at  one. 
It  is  in  form  only  the  act  of  the  King  ;  in  substance 
and  historical  position,  it  is  the  first  effort  of  a  corpo- 
rate life  that  has  reached  its  full  consciousness,  re- 


48  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

solved  to  act  for  itself,  and  able  to  carry  out  the 
resolution.  The  whole  constitutional  history  of 
England  is  little  more  than  a  commentary  on  Magna 
Charta."  i 

The  Great  Charter  ^  contains  a  summing  up  of  the 
rights  and  duties  that  had  been  growing  into  recog- 
AnaiysiBof  uitiou,  whilc  tlic  uatiou  was  growing  into 
MagnaCharta.  QQusciousness.  The  Commous  are  joined 
with  the  Barons  in  the  execution  of  the  Charter,  and 
now,  for  the  iu'st  time  since  the  overturn  of  the  old 
order,  take  part  in  the  great  life  of  the  nation.  It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  royal  grant,  but  is  really  a  treaty, 
which  John  had  no  idea  of  keeping,  between  him  and 
his  subjects,  based  on  a  series  of  articles  di*awn  up  by 
them.  The  Barons  maintain  the  right  of  the  whole 
people  as  against  themselves  as  well  as  against  the 
King.  The  rights  of  common  men  are  as  carefully 
provided  for  as  those  of  the  nobles  ;  for  always  when 
the  privilege  of  the  simple  freeman  is  not  secured  by 
the  provision  which  affects  the  high-born,  an  added 
clause  defines  and  protects  his  right.  The  whole 
advantage  is  secured  for  the  common  man  by  the 
comprehensive  article  which  closes  the  essential  part 
of  the  Charter.  The  Xllth,  Xlllth,  XlVth,  and 
XV th  articles  are  those  most  interesting.  No  tax  is 
to  be  exacted  without  a  grant  from  the  common 
council  of  the  realm ;  and  the  sense  of  the  nation, 
with  regard  to  the  tax,  is  to  be  taken  in  a  duly  sum- 
moned assembly.  This  claim  was  not  at  all  new,  but 
the  right  had  never  before  been  stated  in  form  so 
clear,  and  the  statement  startled  even  the    Barons. 

1  Stubbs:  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  532, 

2  For  the  document  in  full,  see  Appendix  A. 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  49 

The  struggle  for  it  did  not  end  here,  the  claim  not 
being  fully  conceded  and  firmly  established  until  the 
close  of  the  century.  The  nobles,  as  regards  those 
below  them,  are  bound  here  in  the  same  way  as  the 
King.  The  XXXIXth  and  XLth  clauses  are  famous 
and  precious  enunciations  of  principles.  In  these  the 
right  to  be  tried  by  his  peers  is  secured  to  every  free- 
man. This,  too,  was  no  novelty;  the  very  formula 
used  is  probably  derived  from  certain  ancient  laws ; 
but  the  declaration  was  important.  It  is  no  new 
freedom,  therefore,  now  for  the  first  time  appearing, 
but  simply  a  coming  up  into  consciousness  again  of 
the  ancient  right,  and  a  revival  of  the  old  determina- 
tion to  make  the  right  good.^ 

It  was  probably  through  the  clergy,  the  great 
Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  particular, 
that  the  rights  of  the  Commons  —  free-  Langton's 
holders,  merchants,  even  villeins  —  were  '^°^^' 
so  carefully  regarded.  These  churchmen  and  their 
successors  led  and  acted  for  the  people  until  the 
Reformation,  three  hundred  years  after  this  time, 
with  little  jealousy  of  their  growing  influence,  and 
it  was  the  extinction  of  the  influence  of  these  natural 
leaders  of  the  people,  which  caused  the  nation  to  fall 
so  completely  into  despotic  hands  after  the  Wars  of 
the  Roses.  It  was  in  the  North  of  England  that  the 
cry  for  freedom  was  first  heard ;  but  it  was  taken  up 
at  length  by  the  baronial  party  in  general,  and  the 
demands  became  definite  under  the  hand  of  Langton, 
who  followed  in  his  redaction  models  of  former  times. 
In  such  fashion  as  they  could,  the  masses  of  men, 
until  now  mute  since  the  Conquest  in  all  but  local 

1  The  account  of  Magna  Charta  is  summarized  from  Stubbs. 


50  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

affairs,  signified  their  acceptance,  the  Londoners,  ever 
foremost,  in  especial  making  plain  their  assent.  John 
yielded  in  the  full  intention  of  eluding  his  promises, 
with  the  connivance  of  the  Pope.  He  died  in  the 
midst  of  the  struggle,  and  Langton  and  the  Barons 
took  early  occasion  to  prove  to  his  successor  that 
the  Great  Charter  was  no  dead  letter.  In  1218  a 
fresh  promulgation  of  it  was  required  of  Henry  III, 
as  the  price  of  a  subsidy,  the  principle  being  thus 
established  that  a  redress  of  grievances  must  precede 
a  grant  to  the  Crown.  Though  the  vital  provision 
that  men  should  not  be  taxed  without  their  consent 
was  then  omitted,  there  was  no  step  backward;  in 
the  succeeding  three  hundred  years  Magna  Charta, 
with  the  lacking  clause  restored,  was  confirmed  more 
than  thirty  times. ^ 

As  one  pauses  in  the  British  Museum  at  the  case 
containing  the  autographs,  looking  through  the  glass, 
The  copy  of  ^^  ^^^^  withiu  a  fcw  inches  of  his  hand  the 
i^ X^'BrmshT  Gri'eat  Charter.  Six  hundred  and  seventy- 
MuBeum.  ^^^  years  have  yellowed  and  mouldered 
the  parchment,  which  also  has  been  shrivelled  by  fire. 
The  Latin  of  the  mediaeval  scribes  is  still,  however, 
in  part,  legible,  the  famous  XXXIXth  and  XLth 
articles  standing  out  with  especial  distinctness,  as  if 
the  very  flames  had  held  them  in  honor.  There  are 
the  names  of  the  Barons  who,  halting  their  battle- 
steeds  under  the  trees  of  Windsor  forest,  strode  in 
armor  that  day  (how  precarious  were  their  lives !) 
across  the  turf  of  Runnymede.     There  at  the  bottom 


1  Hannis  Taylor :  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution, 
I,  p.  423. 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  51 

is  the  great  seal  affixed  by  the  fiat  of  the  evil  King.^ 
Whoever  makes  real  to  himself  the  significance  of 
that  wrinkled  sheet  must  feel  in  his  heart  a  thrill  of 
awe.  Magna  Charta  in  1215,  the  Petition  of  Right 
of  1628,  the  Bill  of  Rights  of  1688,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  of  1776,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  1787,  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832,— how 
memorable  the  series !  Each  rests  upon  its  predeces- 
sor from  Magna  Charta  forward.  How  venerable  the 
document  that  forms  the  base  of  such  a  series !  and 
yet  Magna  Charta  is  but  a  small  instalment  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  —  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  —  which,  snatched  away 
from  our  race,  has  been  given  back  to  us  piecemeal, 
the  process  lasting  through  nearly  a  thousand  years. 
A  slight  share  in  the  public  government  is  thus,  in 
the  time  of  John,  restored  to  the  people.  We  are  to 
trace  the  story  until  government  of  the  people  is 
fully  given  back. 

Through  Henry  II  the  feudalism,  so  unrestricted 
in  the  years  of  Stephen,  had  been  thoroughly  curbed. 
The  great  feudatories  having  been  beaten  down, 
Richard  and  John  felt  very  absolute,  and  the  extor- 
tion of  Magna  Charta,  though,  as  has  just  been  seen, 
it  was  simply  a  conservative  expedient  designed  to 
maintain  what  had  been,  no  doubt  seemed  to  John  a 
thoroughly  revolutionary  proceeding.  When  Magna 
Charta  speaks  of  the  national  council,  it  recognizes 
none  as  entitled  to  membership  therein  but  tenants- 
in-chief.  Only  such  w^ere  summoned,  and  a  royal 
summons  had  now  become  essential.  The  vast  num- 
1  Thomson ;  Historical  Essay  on  Magna  Charta,  pp.  422,  423. 


52  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

ber  holding,  of  those  subordinate  to  the  King,  were  not 
counted  as  entitled  to  a  voice.  Moreover,  there  is 
rarely  record  of  any  opposition  in  the  council  to  the 
King's  will,  —  mucli  less  of  any  power  of  initiating 
measures  of  policy  or  reform.  But  the  great  year 
1265  was  at  hand,  the  date  of  the  second  important 
crisis  of  this  eventful  century.  The  practice  and 
obligation  to  do  jury  duty  had  been  affording  to  the 
lowest  freemen  important  discipline.  The  shire-moots 
went  on  as  in  Saxon  times,  made  up  of  the  land- 
holders and  their  stewards,  whom  the  sheriff,  in  his 
official  coat,  surrounded  by  liveried  followers,  pre- 
sided over;  while,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd,  in 
some  undistinguished  place,  no  doubt,  but  still  a  rec- 
ognized and  indispensable  part  of  the  assembly,  the 
parish  priest  and  the  reeve  and  four  men,  in  coarse 
brown  smock-frocks  of  a  fashion  as  ancient  perhaps 
as  the  function  the  wearers  were  administering  (and 
yet  a  costume  still  worn  by  the  English  ploughman), 
voted  and  spoke  for  each  township  on  all  local  mat- 
ters. The  time  had  come  when  representation,  which 
had  lived  on  in  the  local  self-government,  was  to  play 
a  larger  part.  "  The  humble  processes  by  which  men 
had  made  their  by-laws  in  the  manorial  courts  and 
fined  offenders,  by  which  they  had  assessed  estates  or 
presented  the  report  of  their  neighbors,  by  which 
they  had  learned  to  work  with  the  judges  of  the 
King's  court  for  the  determination  of  questions  of 
custom,  right,  justice,  and  equity,  were  the  training 
for  the  higher  functions,  in  which  they  were  to  work 
out  the  right  of  taxation,  legislation,  and  political 
determination  on  national  action."  ^ 

1  Stubbs:  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  623. 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  63 

"  The  representative  system,"  says  Freeman,  "  is  the 
great  political  invention  of  Teutonic  Europe,  tlie  one 
form   of    political    life   to   which   neither 
Thucydicles,  Aristotle,  nor  Polybius  ever  representative 

1  c    •  1    ?5  1     system. 

saw  more  than  the  faintest  approach.  ^ 
"It  is,"  says  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  "a  flower  of  civili- 
zation such  as  neither  antiquity  nor  the  middle  ages 
either  enjoyed  or  conceived  of,  —  something  direct  and 
positive  in  itself,  an  institution  having  its  own  full, 
distinct,  and  independent  character,  the  excellence  of 
which  is  not  to  be  measured  by  asking  how  closely  it 
may  approach  to  something  beyond  it,  which  would 
be  the  best  thing,  could  we  but  have  it,  but  which, 
for  some  reason,  we  must  give  up  forever.  The  rep- 
resentative system  seems  to  me  one  of  the  very  great- 
est institutions  that  adorn  the  pages  of  the  history  of 
civilization  ;  for  through  it  alone  can  be  obtained 
real  civil  liberty,  founded  upon  extensive  political 
societies,  and  not  on  narrow  city  communities."  ^ 

Let  us  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  conditions  under 
which  this  precious  thing  must  exist.  It  is  only 
fitted  to  peoples  among  whom  prevails  a  . 

vigorous  local  self-government;  for  it  is  its  success. 
not  by  instinct  that  men  are  able  to  form  a  proper 
judgment  as  to  the  qualifications  or  acts  of  their  rep- 
resentatives. "  Such  judgment  and  the  experience 
necessary  to  it  can  never  be  got  in  any  other  way 
than  by  habitual  and  free  discussion  on  similar 
classes  of  subjects  among  those  who  feel  that  they 
have  an  immediate  interest  in  the  result.  It  is  by 
the  habit  and  experience  of  understanding  and  help- 

1  History  of  Federalism,  II,  p.  67. 

8  Dr.  Francis  Lieber :  Political  Ethics,  II,  p.  313. 


54  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

ing  to  manage  their  own  affairs  and  the  affairs  of 
their  own  district,  that  men  can  alone  have  their 
minds  so  trained  as  to  be  able  to  judge  of  the  mode 
in  which  their  representatives  in  Parliament,  or  in 
the  narrow  local  council,  ought  to,  and  do,  manage 
the  affairs  of  the  nation,  the  shire,  or  the  borough. 
It  is  by  the  independence  of  thought  and  conduct  to 
be  only  acquired  by  the  habit  of  being  continually 
called  upon  to  express  an  opinion  on,  and  to  take  an 
active  part  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  their 
own  district,  that  men  can  alone  ever  be  really  fit 
to  elect  representatives,  either  to  Parliament  or  the 
local  council,  or  to  form  sound  or  respect-worthy 
opinions  on  the  conduct  of  such  representatives." 
For  successful  application,  then,  of  the  representative 
system,  there  must  also  be  "  regular,  fixed,  frequent, 
and  accessible  meetings  together  of  the  freemen 
themselves,  at  which  all  matters  done  by  the  repre- 
sentative bodies  shall  be  laid  before  the  folk,  dis- 
cussed, and  approved  or  disapproved ;  and  at  which 
all  matters  of  common  interest  to  the  respective 
associated  communities  shall  be  brought  forward  and 
fully  canvassed :  and  having  undergone  this  process, 
the  public  opinion  thereupon  shall  be  truly,  peace- 
ably, and  healthily  expressed."  ^ 

The  previous  consideration  has  made  plain  the  fact 
that  in  the  century  of  the  Renaissance,  when  Eng- 
land, rising  from  barbarism  and  acquiring  solidarity 
as  a  nation,  after  long  distraction,  assumed  at  last  a 
representative  system  of  broad  national  import,  there 
was  in  the  land  ample  and  adecjuate  foundation  for 

1  J.  Toulmin  Smith:  Local  Self-Goverument  and  Civilization,  p. 
29,  etc. 


MAGNA  CHARTA.  55 

it.  There  had  existed  for  many  ages,  moots  of 
shires,  hundreds,  and  tithings,  —  a  system  of  local 
self-government  minutely  ramified  and  wisely  devised, 
so  that  there  should  be  fixed,  frequent,  regular,  and 
accessible  meetings  together  of  the  folk  in  every  part. 
The  purpose  was  to  have  the  means  of  getting  justice 
nigh  at  hand,  and  also  of  understanding,  discussing, 
and  determining  upon  all  matters  of  common  interest. 
Before  the  Conquest,  the  moots  had  maintained  them- 
selves from  a  prehistoric  day  in  vigorous  activity ; 
this  system,  capable  of  thorough  resuscitation,  still 
existed  everywhere.  The  substructure  for  a  repre- 
sentative system,  indeed,  was  prepared  as  it  has  been 
prepared  in  no  other  race  before  or  since.  Upon  this, 
now,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  was  to  be  reared  success- 
fully the  very  noblest  of  political  edifices.  The  era 
in  which  and  the  man  through  whom  the  work  was 
done  deserve  to  be  forever  remembered. 

Riding  at  leisure  from  Coventry  in  the  early  light 
of  an  August  morning,  before  long  I  was  making  my 
way  with  some  difficulty  across  a  consider-  g.^^^  ^^ 
able  brook,  which,  however  men  may  come  ^°ach'ie*ve°'^ 
and  go,  runs  on  forever  through  the  rich  ™®"'" 
English   midlands.      That   obstacle    passed,   I   soon 
reached  a  gateway,  passing  which,  I  had  before  me 
one  of  the  most  venerable  of  ruins.   A  mighty  keep  of 
red  stone,  whose  walls  were  yards  in  thickness,  rose 
half-buried  beneath  heavy  masses  of  ivy,  from  the 
sward  below.     About  it  stood,  in  various  stages  of 
decay,  walls  of  lighter  construction,  the  windows  and 
doorways  of  which,  surmounted  by  the  graceful,  low- 
pointed  arch,  showed  that  they  came  from  the  Tudor 
period.     Mounds  of  broken  outline,  over  which  the 


56  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

turf  had  spread  itself,  marked  the  site  of  towers  and 
outworks  wliich  had  undergone  a  demolition  more 
complete.  Broad  meadows  stretched  away  from  the 
higher  ground  of  the  castle  site,  from  which,  as  I  lay 
on  the  grass  with  the  imposing  mass  of  the  keep  before 
me,  came  a  sound  most  incongruous  with  the  romantic 
reverie  to  which  one  in  such  a  place  would  like  to 
surrender  himself, — the  clatter  of  an  American  mow- 
ing-machine. It  was  Kenilworth  Castle,  —  a  ruin  as 
beautiful  and  as  rich  in  historic  associations  as  any  in 
England.  The  brook  which  crosses  the  path  thither 
from  the  village  is  the  one  which  once  supplied  water 
for  the  moat  and  for  the  broad  lake,  which,  covering 
the  lower  ground  about,  was  of  old  an  important  cir- 
cumstance in  the  strength  of  the- position.  To  the 
many  visitors  to  Kenilworth,  the  associations  of  the 
spot  uppermost  in  the  mind  are  of  Leicester  and  Amy 
Robsart,  and  the  magnificent  entertainment,  described 
by  Scott,  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  There  is  another  name, 
however,  of  far  greater  import  in  the  history  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  which  should  be  remembered  there, 
—  that  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  the  founder  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  of  whom  Kenilworth  Castle  was 
the  home. 

He  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  cruel  crusader 
against  the  Albigenses,  the  precursors  of  Protestant- 
ism, who  lived  in  Southern  France.  Foreigner  and 
adventurer  tliat  he  was,  regarded  by  the  aristocracy 
into  which  he  pushed  himself  as  an  upstart,  the  ante- 
cedents were  strange  enough  for  the  part  he  was  des- 
tined to  play,  —  that  of  a  great  English  statesman 
and  patriot.  He  had  married  Eleanor,  sister  of  King 
Henry  IH,  and  by  that  union  had  come  into  a  front 


MAGNA   CHARTA.  57 

rank  among  the  Barons.  It  was  a  time  of  disorder 
and  bloodshed.  Little  by  little  concessions  were 
made  to  the  rising  spirit  of  freedom  in  the  people. 
The  Great  Charter  was  again  and  again  confirmed. 
At  last,  in  1264,  when  Simon  de  Montfort,  at  discord 
with  the  King,  by  his  victory  over  the  royal  party  at 
Lewes,  had  become  arbiter  of  the  kingdom,  he  sum- 
moned the  famous  Parliament  in  which  for  the  first 
time  the  Commons  of  England  were  fairly  repre- 
sented,—  one  of  the  greatest  landmarks  in  the  history 
of  our  race.  It  met  on  the  20th  of  January,  1265,  — 
not  a  national  Parliament,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word,  which  in  consequence  of  the  dissensions  was  a 
thing  impossible,  but  an  assembly  of  the  supporters 
of  the  existing  government.  The  clergy,  in  that  cen- 
tury leaders  of  the  people  and  friends  of  freedom, 
were  there  in  force,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty.  Of  nobles,  there  were  but  twenty-three, 
five  earls  and  eighteen  Barons,  for  the  peers  stood 
generally  for  the  King ;  but  a  noteworthy  feature  of 
the  Parliament  was  the  representation  of  shires,  cities, 
and  boroughs.  Two  "  discreet  Knights  "  were  present 
for  each  shire,  two  representatives  from  each  city  and 
borough.  There  were  informalities ;  "  but  the  custom 
of  election  was  so  well  established  that  it  could  not 
have  been  neglected  on  this  occasion.  He  was  greater 
as  an  opponent  of  tyranny  than  as  a  deviser  of  liber- 
ties. The  fettei-s  imposed  on  royal  autocracy,  cum- 
brous and  entangled  as  they  were,  seem  to  have  been 
an  integral  part  of  his  policy ;  the  means  he  took  for 
admitting  the  nation  to  self-government  wear  very 
much  the  form  of  an  occasional  or  party  expedient, 
which  a  longer  tenure  of  individual  power  might  have 


58  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

led  him  either  to  develop  or  discard.  The  idea,  how- 
ever, of  representative  government  had  ripened  in  his 
hand ;  and,  although  the  germ  of  the  growth  lay  in 
the  primitive  institutions  of  the  land,  Simon  has  the 
merit  of  having  been  one  of  the  first  to  see  the  uses 
and  glories  to  which  it  would  ultimately  grow."  ^ 

Earl  Simon  stands  in  his  century  as  a  man  of  honor, 
of  steady  purpose,  and  of  high  military  and  adminis- 
trative ability.  Church  and  people  loved  him  enthu- 
siastically. He  was  held  to  be  a  saintly  figure,  and 
extolled  affectionately  in  hymns. ^ 

At  the  battle  of  Evesham,  where  he  was  surprised 
one  August  day  in  1265,  by  Prince  Edward,  while 
looking  for  succor  from  his  castle  of  Kenilworth,  he 
was  completely  overwhelmed  and  afterwards  slain. 


1  Stubbs :  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  100. 

2  Creighton  gives  the  following  specimen  among  others :  — 

"  Right  many  were  there  men  of  fame; 
But  all  of  them  I  cannot  name, 
So  great  would  be  the  sum : 
So  I  return  to  Earl  Simon, 
To  tell  the  interpretation 
From  whence  his  name  has  come. 

"  Montfort  is  he  most  rightly  called  : 
He  is  the  mount  and  he  is  hold. 
And  has  great  chivalry ; 
The  truth  I  tell,  my  troth  I  plight. 
He  hates  the  wrong,  he  loves  the  right, 
So  shall  have  mastery. 

"Doubtless  the  mount  he  is  indeed: 
The  Commons  are  with  him  agreed, 
And  praise  is  due  to  them; 
Leicester's  great  earl  right  glad  may  be. 
And  may  rejoice  full  heartily. 
To  gain  such  glorious  fame." 

Translation:  from  Creighton's   "Simon  de  Montfort,"  New  York, 
1877,  p.  124. 


MAGNA  CHARTA.  59 

His  body  was  cut  to  pieces  and  became  the  subject  of 
miraculous  stories.  His  hands  were  severed  and 
given  in  charge  to  a  messenger  to  be  conveyed  to  a 
distant  place.  The  messenger  being  present  at  a 
mass,  when  the  host  was  elevated,  the  hands  of  Earl 
Simon  appeared  from  beneath  their  wrappings  and 
put  themselves  together  palm  to  palm  in  the  attitude 
of  prayer.  So  they  were  accustomed  to  do  in  life, 
and  in  death  the  people  believed  the  devout  posture 
was  not  forgotten. 

The  third  critical  year  of  the  thirteenth  century  is 
1295.  When  Earl  Simon  beheld  the  host  of  Edward 
manoeuvrinsf  to  compass  liis  own  destruc- 

T^Tif-r^         1  ••  -1     Edward  I  and 

tion,  on  the  field  of  Evesham,  it  is  said  the  esubiish- 

ment  of  the 

that  thousfh  he  saw  plainly  the  nearness  of  House  of 

'^  .  .        Commons. 

his  own  overthrow,  he  yet  admired  the  skill 
of  the  Prince,  and  jDroudly  claimed  that  he  himself 
had  been  the  Prince's  teacher.  When  Edward  became 
soon  after  one  of  the  greatest  of  Kings,  he  showed 
that  in  peace  as  well  as  war  he  was  a  pupil  of  the 
man  whom  he  had  slain.  Though  opposed  to  Earl 
Simon  while  the  latter  lived,  yet  he  was  constrained 
to  pursue  the  policy  which  had  been  entered  upon, 
and  he  wrought  to  completion  the  structure  of  the 
Parliament  as  it  stands  to-day.  He  was  a  great  law- 
giver in  a  century  of  law-givers ;  his  contemporaries 
were  Frederick  II  in  Germany  and  Italy,  Louis  IX 
in  France,  and  Alphonso  the  Wise  in  Castile.  The 
constitution,  as  he  left  it  at  his  death  in  1307,  remains 
to  this  day  the  model  of  representative  institutions. 
He  anticipated  and  almost  superseded  constructive 
legislation  for  two  centuries,  furnishing  at  the  same 
time  a  basis  which  has  served  until  the  present  hour. 


60  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1295  that  he  performed  his 
most  memorable  act,  the  Last  formal  step  which  estab- 
lished fully  the  representation  of  the  Commons.  The 
form  of  summons  addressed  to  the  prelates  is  most 
interesting,  beginning  with  that  quotation  from  the 
code  of  Justinian  transmuted  by  Edward  from  a  mere 
legal  maxim  into  a  great  political  and  constitutional 
principle :  "  As  the  most  righteous  law,  established 
by  the  provident  circumspection  of  the  sacred  princes, 
exhorts  and  ordains  that  that  which  touches  all  shall 
be  approved  by  all,  it  is  very  evident  that  the  common 
dangers  must  be  met  by  measures  concerted  in  com- 
mon." ^  The  writs  issued  to  Barons  and  sheriffs, 
though  more  brief,  are  in  similar  strain.  Each  sheriff 
is  to  cause  two  knights  of  his  shire,  two  citizens  of 
every  city,  and  two  burgesses  of  every  borough,  to 
be  elected  and  returned,  the  representatives  of  the 
Commons  to  bring  full  power  from  their  several  con- 
stituencies for  doing  what  shall  be  ordained  by  com- 
mon counsel.^ 

The  reign  of  Edward  was  ushered  in  by  a  careful 
observance  of  the  forms  of  election  and  acceptance,  — 
forms  indeed  never  omitted,  though  sometimes  they 
seemed  mere  idle  ceremony.  The  times  were  full  of 
tumult,  —  wars  without  and  dissensions  within.  He 
was  the  ruthless  King  who  flung  the  Jews  out  of 
England ;  the  bards  of  Wales  prayed  that  ruin  might 
seize  him,  that  confusion  might  wait  upon  his  ])anners  ; 
—  he  won  the  victory  of  Falkirk,  where  so  many  Scots 
bled  with  Wallace.  He  was  not,  indeed,  above  being 
tempted  to   ambition,  vindictiveness,  and   impatient 

1  Taswell-Laiigmeail :  English  Constitutional  History,  p.  245. 

2  Stubbs :  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  108,  etc. 


MAGNA  CHARTA.  61 

violence.  But  the  forward  steps  which  the  nation 
took,  sometimes,  to  be  sure,  in  spite  of  him,  but  some- 
times under  his  guidance,  were  most  momentous. 
The  Great  Charter  was  again  and  again  confirmed, 
until  it  became  as  fixed  as  the  hills,  in  the  national 
life ;  the  doctrine  that  grievances  must  be  redressed 
by  those  in  power  before  supplies  can  be  granted  was 
plainly  admitted.  In  1297,  it  was  clearly  established 
that  there  can  be  no  taxation  without  representation, 
— the  principle  upon  which,  five  hundred  years  later, 
stood  the  Americans  of  '76,  when  they  fought  out 
their  freedom:  Parliament,  too,  stood  forth,  a  well- 
defined  and  organized  expositor  of  the  national  will. 
As  one  wanders  among  the  graves  of  the  great  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  there  is  no  tomb  before  which  a 
more  reverential  pause  may  be  made  than  the  massive, 
unornamented  sepulchre,  built  in  a  rude  age,  for  the 
tall,  stalwart  monarch,  the  "  Longshanks  "  of  popular 
tradition,  who  bestrode  to  such  purpose  the  realm  to 
which  he  was  born,  —  Edward  I,  strong  in  arm,  brain, 
and  soul. 


62  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   COMING   UP  OF   THE   SERFS. 
Edward  II,  1307.  Edward  III,  1327.  Richard  II,  1377. 

It  was  not  only  in  England,  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, that  national  assemblies  were  coming  into  being. 
Condition  of  ^^^  Castilc  and  Arragon,  town  representa- 
Europ™iirthe  tivcs  wd'c  appearing  in  the  cortes.  In 
13th  century,  gi^ily,  Frederick  II  was  instituting  some- 
thing very  similar  to  the  English  shire-moots.  In 
Germany,  the  cities  appeared  by  deputies  in  the  im- 
perial diet.  In  France,  the  States-General  were  first 
summoned  in  1302.  These  national  councils  were 
scai'cely  less  proud  and  powerful  than  the  one  at 
Westminster.^  All,  however,  were  destroyed  or  sank 
into  insignificance.  Only  the  English  Parliament 
stood  firmly  on  the  constitutional  right  to  give  and 
withhold  money,  and  maintained  itself.  In  France 
and  Spain,  the  outcome  was  royal  absolutism.  With 
the  passing  away  of  the  Hohenstaufen,  went  Fred- 
erick IPs  institution  in  Italy.  In  Germany,  there 
was  utter  disintegration,  the  life  of  the  nation  being 
diverted  into  hundreds  of  pretty  provincial  channels, 
wliile  the  people  were  smitten  into  dumbness. 
Meantime  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms  had  scarcely 
emerged  into  the  light  of  history,  and  in  Russia  pop- 
1  Macaulay :  History  of  England,  I,  p.  33. 


THE   COMING   UP   OF   THE   SERFS.  63 

ular  liberty  underwent  a  curious  hemming  in,  from 
which  it  has  never  recovered.  In  early  times  the 
moot  in  the  mir  or  Slavic  village  was  as  distinctly 
marked  and  important  as  among  the  Saxons  them- 
selves. There  was  no  development,  however,  of 
moots  above,  corresponding  to  those  of  the  hundred 
and  shire,  and  no  use  of  the  expedient  of  representa- 
tion. The  brilliant,  ubiquitous  Normans  appeared  to 
the  east  of  the  Baltic,  as  they  did  in  France,  Eng- 
land, Italy,  and  the  Orient,  assuming  leadership  here 
as  eveiywhere,  and  imposing  a  feudalism  which  has 
endured  until  now.  The  popular  life  has  persisted 
in  the  mir,  but  has  never  been  able  to  rise  into 
national  significance. 

In  England,  then,  the  ancient  freedom  revived,  but 
in  England  alone.  Can  it  be  said  that  government 
of,  by,  and  for  the  people  had  been  thor- 

11  1  o     T-.  mi        c    n        Constitution 

ouffhly  restored  ?   By  no  means.    The  folk-  of  the  eariy 

"      ^  ''  ParliamentB. 

moot  had  possessed  all  the  power  once. 
It  disappeared  as  regards  central  government,  living 
on  under  the  surface,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  various 
moots  for  local  self-government.  The  witenagemote, 
indeed,  may  have  arisen  from  the  national  assembly, 
but  it  had  become  so  changed  in  character,  through 
the  absence  of  all  but  a  few  rich  and  powerful  per- 
sonages, that  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  different  thing. 
In  the  court  of  the  Conqueror  and  his  sons,  the  wite- 
nagemote had  not  disappeared;  under  Henry  II,  it 
became  a  complete  feudal  council  consisting  only  of 
the  King's  tenants.  At  last,  under  Earl  Simon  and 
Edward,  this  grew  into  a  full  national  assembly ;  the 
three  estates.  Clergy,  Lords,  and  Commons,  made  it 
up,  —  the  first  and  last  by  representation,  the  second 


64  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

directly,  for  each  Lord  had  a  seat  by  right.  The 
great  mark  left  by  the  thirteenth  century  on  the 
constitution  was  the  representation  of  the  Commons. 
They  are  recognized  in  Magna  Charta  as  creatures 
possessed  of  rights  entitled  to  respect ;  under  Earl 
Simon,  they  were  admitted  to  a  voice  in  the  govern- 
ment; under  Edward,  what  Earl  Simon  had  intro- 
duced was  thoroughly  established  and  systematized. 
The  Parliament  of  1295  is  a  precedent  for  all  time 
to  come.  As  regards  form,  the  model  of  Edward 
has  not  been  departed  from  in  England,  down  to  the 
present  day,  and  is  distinctly  reflected,  as  will  be 
hereafter  seen,  in  the  constitution  of  America.  A 
quite  different  spirit,  however,  animates  the  ancient 
framework.  In  Edward's  time,  the  voice  in  affairs 
which  the  people  had  gained  was  only  faint.  The 
monarch,  though  not  autocratic,  was  immensely  pow- 
erful ;  the  privileged  class  of  nobles,  the  clergy,  too, 
possessed  a  might  far  outweighing  that  of  the  undis- 
tinguished mass.  At  present,  in  England,  the  plain 
people  are  nearly  all-powerful ;  they  are  all-powerful 
in  America  and  in  the  British  dependencies.  Many 
centuries  were  destined  to  pass  before  this  thorough 
reinstatement  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom. 

In  the  time  of  Edward  I,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  cities   and   boroughs,  and   thirty-seven    counties 
were  reijresented  in  Parliament,  and  the 

Importance  of  . 

tho  knights-of-  maximum  number  of  representatives  pres- 

the-sliire.  '-        ,  ■*■ 

ent  was  four  hundred  and  six.  It  was  the 
knights-of-the-shire,  seventy-four  of  them,  two  from 
each  of  the  thirty-seven  counties*,  who  were  at  first 
the  champions  of  the  Commons.  The  divisions  which 
had  sent  them  to  Westminster  were  coeval  with  the 


THE   COMING   UP   OF   THE   SERFS.  65 

earliest  Saxon  occupation.  The  interests  of  these 
divisions  were  especially  liable  to  injury  at  the  hands 
of  an  arbitrary  King,  and  it  was  natural  that  the 
knights-of-the-shire  should  be  leaders  in  debate.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  they  were  elected  partly  by 
the  votes  of  the  small  free-holders  of  the  counties, 
the  yeomen^  a  class  which  gradually  grows 
as  the  oppressions  of  feudalism  relax  (many 
who  had  been  ground  down  into  some  form  of  villein- 
age, rising  into  the  character  of  independent  cultiva- 
tors),^ and  becomes  an  immensely  important  constitu- 
ent in  the  strength  of  the  nation.  From  the  younger 
sons  of  the  yeomen  were  recruited  the  archers  and 
men-at-arms  who  made  formidable  the  warfare  of  the 
Edwards  and  the  Henrys.  As  tradesmen  in  cities, 
they  rose  often  to  be  great  merchants,  and  bound 
together  in  important  ways  town  and  country.  In 
antiquity  of  possession  of  land  and  real  purity  of  birth 
they  were  superior,  usually,  to  those  who  despised 
them  as  ignoble,  for  their  line  went  back  far  before 
the  Conquest.  As  the  middle  ages  advance,  the  rec- 
ognition of  their  political  rights  becomes  more  and 
more  distinct.  There  is,  however,  no  proof  that 
yeomen  in  the  middle  ages  ever  sat  in  Parliament. 
There  was  no  bar  to  their  election,  and  it  may  possi- 
bly have  happened,  but  the  gentry  practically  monop- 
olized the  representation.  Representation  was  long 
regarded,  not  as  a  privilege,  but  as  a  burden ;  and 
quite  possibly  the  absence  of  small  free-holders  at 
Westminster  was  due  to  reluctance  on  their  part, 
rather  than  to  neglect  of  them  by  the  constituencies. 

1  This  movement  was  especially  marked  during  the  long  reign  of 
Henry  III,  121G-72.  J.  Thorold  Rogers  :  History  of  Agriculture  and 
Prices,  I,  p.  3. 


6Q  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

As   compared    with    the    knights-of-the-shire,   the 

borough  members  were  insignificant  in  their  influence. 

Thouffh  cities  and  towns  had  once  played 

Unfortunate  .    °  .  .  „ 

state  of  the      au  important  part  m  the  conservation  of 

boroughs.  , 

freedom,  it  had  come  about  that  there  were 
great  irregularities  in  their  constitutions.  No  uni- 
form type  of  city  and  borough  court,  corresponding  to 
the  shire-moot,  existed.  There  were  towns  in  which 
local  administration  was  in  the  hands  of  a  close  cor- 
poration, often  a  body  small  in  number ;  towns,  too, 
where  the  administration  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
townspeople.  To  the  former  type  belonged  generally 
the  larger  and  older  municipalities ;  to  the  latter,  the 
smaller  and  more  recent.  There  were  towns  in  al- 
most every  stage  of  development  between  the  widely 
different  constitutions  which  have  been  indicated,  — 
a  state  of  things  whence  arose  anomalies  and  obscu- 
rities that  gave  embarrassment  through  many  centu- 
ries, —  to  which  an  end  was  not  set,  indeed,  until  the 
reforms  of  1832.  Naturally  this  chaotic  condition 
of  the  cities  and  boroughs  affected  the  efficiency  of 
their  representation  in  Parliament.  Often  the  mem- 
ber stood  in  no  fair  way  for  the  body  of  men  for 
whom  he  nominally  sat.  No  wonder  that  as  com- 
pared with  the  knights-of-the-shire,  all  deputed  after 
one  simple  and  uniform  fashion  by  the  county  courts, 
and  all  in  a  certain  way  men  of  rank,  the  borough- 
members  were  at  a  disadvantage  in  undertaking  the 
work  of  legislation. 

In  the  case  of  the  thoughtful  man,  interested  in 
reviewing^  the  course  of  thinars  which  has 

The  Chapter  t       i  •        i  t  i     ,  •         -,         a  ■,  ^ 

House  at         resulted  m  the  world  that  now  is,  the  Abbey 

Westminster. 

Church  of  Westminster,  with  all  its  beauty 


THE   COMIXG   UP   OF   THE   SERFS.  67 

and  great  associations,  will  scarcely  touch  so  deeply 
as  the  Chapter  House  close  by,  plain  comparatively  in 
its  adornments  and  proportions,  Avhich,  in  the  early 
days  we  are  now  dealing  with,  became  the  regular 
meeting-place  of  the  recently  constituted  Parliament 
of  England.  It  is  a  hall  octagonal  in  shape,  with  a 
massive  central  pillar  rising  high,  to  spread  out  at  last 
into  groined  arcs,  which  form,  with  similar  arcs  pro- 
ceeding from  the  sides,  the  lofty  vaulted  ceiling. 
The  seats  of  stone  about  the  column  and  the  walls 
are  worn  and  made  dark  with  many  generations  that 
have  sat  upon  them.  The  floor  is  channelled  deep 
with  the  footsteps  that  have  trodden  there.  In  the 
windows  there  is  still  old  glass  which  must  have  let 
in  light  upon  the  faces  of  the  great  Edwards  them- 
selves, as,  building  so  much  better  than  they  knew, 
they  shaped,  in  anxious  and  troubled  counsel  with 
their  Barons  and  the  representatives  of  their  people, 
the  structure  of  the  English  legislature.  No  clear 
record  has  come  to  us  of  the  debates  that  echoed  from 
those  walls.  Could  the  stones  speak,  they  might 
bear  witness  to  struggles  as  memorable  as  those  of  a 
later  time  in  Westminster  Hall  and  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel,  whither  the  Parliament  by  and  by  removed. 
As  to  details,  little  is  to  be  recovered.  In  outline, 
however,  the  constitutional  growth  may  still  be  traced. 
In  the  first  Parliaments,  the  four  orders,  the 
clergy,  the  Barons,  the  knights-of-the-shire,  and  the 
burgesses,  met  each  by  itself,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  deliberation.     Soon,  however,  Ave   Parliament  in- 

.  .  to  two  Houses. 

find    the    knights    becoming   closely   con- 
nected with  the  Barons,^  by  whom  the  knights  were 

1  Sir  T.  Erskiue  May :  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  art.,  "  Parliament." 


68  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

admitted  apparently  to  an  almost  equal  position  with 
themselves,  both  as  legislators  and  counsellors  of  the 
Crown.  The  clergy  continued  to  hold  aloof,  while 
the  burgesses  took  little  part,  except  when  they  were 
to  be  taxed.  But  the  position  of  the  burgesses  grad- 
ually improved.  In  1322  their  right  to  share  fully 
in  all  legislative  action  was  asserted;  and  soon, 
through  some  obscure  cause,  the  knights-of-the-shire, 
giving  up  their  community  with  the  Barons,  drifted 
over  to  the  side  of  the  burgesses,  with  whom  they  coa- 
lesced so  thoroughly  that  the  united  classes  became 
known  as  the  Commons.  In  1325  is  found  the  first 
recognition  of  the  necessity  of  the  assent  of  the 
Commons  to  making  a  law  valid :  it  comes  as  an  in- 
dorsement upon  a  proposed  act.  "  It  cannot  be  done 
without  new  law,  which  thing  to  do  the  Commons  of 
the  land  will  not  yet  assent."  ^  In  1827,  the  young 
Parliament  gave  strong  proof  of  its  vigor  in  the 
deposition  of  Edward  II.  In  1341  came  the  definite 
division  into  two  Houses,  the  Lords  and  Commons, 
which  has  existed  until  the  present  hour,  and  which  is 
reflected  in  America,  and  in  all  other  lands  Avhich 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom  has  touched.  It  is  hard  to 
overestimate,  says  Green,  the  importance  of  this 
change.  Had  Parliament  remained  in  four  parts, 
jealousies  Avould  certainly  have  paralyzed  its  action. 
Had  the  knights  and  the  Barons  remained  together, 
an  aristocratic  oligarchy  could  not  have  been  escaped. 
The  cause  of  the  people  derived  an  immense  impulse 
when  the  knights-of-the-shire  placed  themselves  side 

1  "  11  ne  put  estrs  fait  sanz  novele  ley,  la  quele  chose  fere,  la  coniu- 
nalte  de  la  terre  ne  vult  m>  uncore  assentit "  (responsio  in  dorso). 
Guliel.  Kyley :  Placita  Parliamentaria,  p.  6i'J.    London,  IGtJl. 


THE  COMING  UP  OF  THE  SERFS.      69 

by  side  with  the  burgesses.  Moreover,  the  knights, 
forming  as  they  did  a  connecting  link  between  the 
higher  nobles  and  the  people,  bound  happily  together 
the  whole  national  fabric.  A  new  power  was  at  once 
lent  to  Parliament  which  it  has  never  since  lost. 

Edward  III,  engaged  in  foreign  wars,  and,  driven 
year  after  year  to  ask  for-  grants,  brought  Parliameilt 
together  in  frequent  sessions.  With  each  grant  the 
national  council  took  a  step  forward;  the  sphere  of 
its  action  continued  to  widen ;  we  find  record  of  acts 
regulating  trade,  church  matters,  and  the  general 
rights  of  subjects.  The  doctrines  were  emphasized 
that  the  King's  needs  could  be  suj)plied  only  by  par- 
liamentary errant,  and  that  the  King's  min- 

•^    °  .11  1  -J-         Growth  of  the 

isters  were  responsible  to  the  nation  for  power  of  Par- 

(••ifi  11  Ti  [•      T      •       iiament. 

a  faithiul  and  honest  discharge  oi  their 
duties  ;  at  last  from  functions  purely  legislative.  Par- 
liament took  hold  of  the  work  of  administration.  In 
the  Good  Parliament  of  1376,  a  most  vigorous  asser- 
tion of  authority  took  place.  The  Black  Prince,  sick 
unto  death,  was  anxious  to  secure  the  succession  to 
the  throne  of  his  young  son,  Richard.  The  prelates 
at  the  same  time  stood  opposed  to  John  of  Gaunt, 
and  the  baronial  party  of  which  he  was  the  head. 
Edward  III  was  in  his  dotage,  and  against  the  royal 
council,  which  administered  affairs  in  his  name,  the 
Parliament  now  fiercely  arrayed  itself.  Sir  Peter  de 
la  Mare,  the  speaker,  made  the  walls  of  the  Chapter 
House  ring  with  denunciations  of  military  misman- 
agement, of  oppressive  taxation,  of  money  spent 
without  rendering  account.  Two  ministers  Avere 
impeached  and  condemned:  Alice  Perrers,  the  mis- 
tress who  held  in  her  control  the  imbecile  King,  was 


70  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

banished;  annual  sessions  of  Parliament  and  free 
elections  of  kniglits-of-tlie-shire  were  demanded ;  ar- 
bitrary levies  of  money  and  the  encroachments  of  the 
Pope  were  condemned.  John  of  Gaunt  opposed,  to 
be  sure,  powerfully.  De  la  Mare  was  imprisoned  and 
the  Good  Parliament  declared  to  be  no  Parliament. 
The  great  council,  however,  was  by  no  means  broken 
in  its  strength. 

We  are  not  to  understand,  however,  that  the  Par- 
liament, become  so  energetic,  fairly  represented  the 
Its  imperfect  entire  population  of  England.  We  have 
Jepresente^ttvl  rcachcd  the  time  of  the  great  revolt  of  the 
^°^^'  laborers,  —  a  matter  so  interesting  in  con- 

nection with  the  story  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  that 
we  must  give  the  circumstances  a  careful  look.  In 
Alfred's  day,  as  has  been  mentioned,^  the  number  of 
freemen,  or  ceorls,  had  greatly  diminished.  The  ter- 
rible Danish  wars,  when  the  life  of  every  man  was 
environed  by  perils,  forced  the  ceorls  to  "  commend  " 
themselves  to  thegns,  receiving  protection  in  return 
for  a  labor  payment.  Probably,  thinks  Green,  whose 
view  is  here  summarized,^  these  dependent  ceorls 
were  the  villeins  of  the  Norman  epoch,  men  sunk 
from  pure  freedom,  and  bound  to  the  soil  and  to  the 
lord,  but  still  preserving  many  of  their  ancient  rights. 
They  retained,  for  instance,  their  lands,  free  as  regards 
all  men  but  their  lords,  and  still  sent  representatives 
to  hundred-moot  and  shire-moot.  They  were,  there- 
fore, far  above  the  men  possessed  of  no  land,  who  in 

1  p.  23. 

2  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  p.  245,  etc.  See  also  Tas- 
well-Langmead :  English  Constitutional  History,  p.  291,  etc. 


THE  COMING  UP  OF  THE   SERFS.  71 

the  Saxon  day,  having  no  political  rights,  were  simply- 
household  servants  or  hired  laborers,  or  at  best  rent- 
paying  tenants  of  land  not  their  own.  After  the 
conquest,  however,  the  Norman  lords  and  their  law- 
yers saw  little  difference  between  the  two  classes,  and 
both  tend  to  blend  into  the  one  class  of  serfs.  All 
depended  upon  the  lord,  whose  manor-house  was  the 
centre  of  the  village,  with  the  court  in  the  hall,  where 
justice  was  rendered  and  the  estate  administered,  and 
the  gallows  outside  for  the  extreme  penalty.  The 
lord's  demesne,  the  home-farm,  was  close  at  hand, 
cultivated  by  the  villeins  or  serfs  of  the  manor ;  so 
they  paid  their  labor-rent  for  their  holdings.  They 
gathered  their  lord's  harvest,  ploughed  and  sowed  for 
him,  or  provided  his  store  of  wood.  All  but  the  low- 
est serfs  were  at  liberty,  when  work  for  the  lord  was 
done,  to  till  their  own  holdings.  The  laborers  must 
work  for  the  lord  throughout  the  year.  These  were 
at  the  bottom  of  the  scale ;  for  the  absolute  slave,  to 
be  found  in  the  earlier  period,  had  now  disappeared. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  lord's  bailiff  to  exact  from  the 
villeins  the  proper  amount  of  service ;  on  the  other 
hand,  there  was  a  reeve  or  foreman  of  the  manor, 
chosen  by  the  tenants  themselves,  who  represented 
their  interests  and  rights. 

At  length  this  system  of  tenure  was  disturbed. 
The  lord  would  let  his  manor  to  a  tenant,  and  the 
rent  paid  by  the  tenant  was  called  the  Rise  of  the 
feorm  ;  hence  farm  and  farmer.  This  prac-  [he™ree  Tl^ 
tice  had  a  great  indirect  influence  in  break-  ^°''®"- 
ing  the  feudal  tie  between  the  lord  and  the  villein. 
An  intermediate  class  —  these  farmers  —  comes  up 
between  the  great  proprietors  and  their  dependents. 


72  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

The  rise  of  the  farmer  class  was  presently  followed  by 
that  of  still  another,  —  the  free  laborers.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  Church  helped  to  some  extent  to  free 
the  serf  from  land  and  lord.  A  year  and  a  day 
in  a  chartered  town,  if  the  fugitive  meantime  were 
unclaimed,  enfranchised  him.  Labor-service,  too,  at 
last,  could  be  commuted  for  money.  This  the  lords 
at  first  were  glad  to  allow,  for  it  gave  them  ready 
cash.  Even  the  King,  Edward  III,  on  the  royal 
estate,  was  glad  to  sell  to  his  villeins  freedom  from 
their  obligations.  Thus  out  of  feudalism,  came  up 
the  yeoman,  and  his  appearance  modified  the  whole 
social  condition  of  the  country.  On  a  multitude  of 
manors,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
lords,  instead  of  the  old  feudal  method,  cultivated 
their  estates  by  means  of  paid  laborers,  receiving 
money-rent  from  free  tenants  in  place  of  actual 
work  by  lialf-enslaved  villeins. 

Now,  however,  intervened  what,  for  that  genera- 
tion, was  a  terrible  calamity.  In  1348,  the  Black 
Death  sweeping  from  the  Levant  across  Europe,  fell 
upon  England,  cariying  off  more  than  one-half  of  its 
population.  Of  the  three  or  four  million  inhabitants 
at  the  beginning,  scarcely  enough  were  left  to  keep 
the  country  in  many  parts  from  reverting  to  wilder- 
ness. The  villages  suffered  well-nigh  as  severely  as 
the  cities,  until  much  of  the  land  became  almost  a 
desert.  At  once  the  price  of  labor  rose  enormously  ; 
and  land-holders,  and  in  the  towns  the  master-crafts- 
men, were  threatened  witli  ruin.  Forthwith,  Parlia- 
ment passed  the  Statute  of  Laborers,  an  enactment 
The  Statute  f  ully  iu  the  interest  of  the  proprietary  class, 
of  Laborers,  ^^-j^^^i^  forccd  cvcry  poor  man  "  to  serve  the 


thp:  coming  up  of  the  serfs.  78 

employer  who  shall  require  him  to  do  so  for  the 
same  wages  as  two  years  before  the  plague."  It  was 
also  sought  to  bind  the  laborer  again  to  the  soil ;  he 
was  forbidden  to  quit  the  parish  where  he  had  lived, 
in  search  of  better  wages,  even  though  he  had  bought 
his  enfranchisement.  It  was  probably  impossible  to 
enforce  the  laAv ;  but  the  high-placed  were  most  per- 
sistent, and  the  statute  was  repeatedly  re-enacted. 
The  harboring  in  towns  of  those  who  had  been  serfs 
was  vigorously  put  down ;  a  stop  was  set  to  the 
commutation  of  labor-service  for  money ;  manumis- 
sions and  exemptions  were  cancelled  on  the  ground 
of  informality ;  finally,  runaway  laborers,  when 
caught,  were  branded  upon  the  forehead  with  a  hot 
iron.  In  the  country,  many  who  had  once  been 
villeins,  but  who  had  commuted  the  personal  ser- 
vice due  from  them  by  money-payment,  had  become 
men  of  position  and  substance.  These  finding  their 
dear-bought  freedom  questioned,  lent  a  powerful 
support  to  the  cause  of  those  just  enfranchised. 
Strikes  and  combinations  disturbed  everywhere  bor- 
ough and  shire.  The  serf  was  winning  his  freedom, 
while  those  who  had  been  masters  were  trying  hard 
to  force  him  back  into  dependence.  Those  days  are 
far  behind  us ;  but  here  in  free  America  that  ancient 
struggle  for  liberty,  and  the  heroes  who  fought  and 
died  to  secure  it,  ought  not  to  be  unknown.  The 
cause  was  the  -same  as  that  for  which  our  own  fathers 
bled  and  died;  its  champions  were  the  prototypes  of 
the  names  we  most  revere.  Without  doubt,  a  certain 
license  entered  into  the  doctrines  which  their  leaders 
taught,  and  violence  sometimes  characterized  their 
conduct.     When  has  it  been  otherwise  in  times  of 


74  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

revolution  ?  Their  cause  was  in  great  part  just ; 
and  it  was  fought  for  not  only  with  much  bravery, 
but  in  the  main  with  true  forbearance  and  wis- 
dom. 

The  priest,  John  Ball,  preaching  to  thousands  of  the 
stout  men  of  Kent,  descendants  of  the  ceorls  who  had 
The  peaBant  bccu  the  vauguard  of  Harold  at  Hastings, 
and  still  always  foremost  when  England 
was  in  danger,  gave  utterance  to  ideas  sometimes  ex- 
travagant, but  often  full  of  natural  equity.^  "  Good 
people,"  he  cried,  "  things  will  never  go  well  in  Eng- 
land so  long  as  goods  be  not  in  common,  and  so  long 
as  there  be  villeins  and  gentlemen.  By  what  right 
are  they  whom  we  call  lords  greater  folk  than  we? 
Why  do  they  hold  us  in  serfage  ?  If  we  all  came  of 
the  same  father  and  mother,  Adam  and  Eve,  how  can 
they  say  or  prove  that  they  are  better  than  we,  if  it 
be  not  that  they  make  us  gain  for  them  by  our  toil 
what  they  spend  in  their  pride?  They  are  clothed 
in  velvet,  and  warm  in  their  furs  and  their  ermines, 
while  we  are  covered  with  rags.  They  have  wine 
and  spices  and  fair  bread ;  and  we,  oat-cake  and  straw, 
and  water  to  drink.  They  have  leisure  and  fine 
houses ;  we  have  pain  and  labor,  the  rain  and  the 
wind  in  the  fields.  And  yet  it  is  of  us  and  our  toil 
that  these  men  hold  their  state." 

Parliament,  although  in  these  very  years  it  was 
boldly  curbing  the  tyranny  of  the  rulers  as  never 
before,  became  reactionary  through  fear  of  the  wide- 
spread levelling  and  socialistic  doctrines.  As  before 
it  had  legislated  in  the  interests  of  the  rich  in 
passing   the    Statute    of    Laborers,   so   in    1380,   by 

1  Froissart :  Translation  of  Thomas  Johnes,  Chap.  LXXIII,  etc. 


THE   COMING   UP   OF   THE   SERFS.  75 

the  imposition  of  a  heavy  poll-tax,  which  ground 
harshly  the  faces  of  the  poor,  England  was  set  on 
fire  from  end  to  end.  The  homely  rallying  cries 
that  passed  from  man  to  man  have  sometimes  been 
preserved.  "  John  Ball,"  ran  one,  "  greeteth  you 
all,  and  doth  for  to  understand  he  hath  rung  your 
bell.  Now  right  and  might,  will  and  skill,  God 
speed  you  every  dele."  "Jack  Miller,"  said  the 
summons  of  another  leader,  "  asketh  help  to  turn  his 
mill  aright.  He  hath  grounden  small,  small ;  the 
King's  son  of  Heaven  he  shall  pay  for  all."  "  Jack 
Carter,"  declared  another,  "  prays  you  all  that  ye 
make  a  good  end  of  that  ye  have  begun."  "  False- 
ness and  guile,"  said  Jack  Trewman,  "  have  reigned 
too  long,  and  truth  hath  been  set  under  a  lock,  and 
falseness  and  guile  reigneth  in  every  stock.  True 
love  is  away  that  was  so  good,  and  clerks  for  wealth 
work  them  woe.  God  do  bote  for  now  is  time."  In 
these  rude  cries  and  songs,  says  Green,^  we  have  the 
forerunners  of  the  fiercely  just  invectives  of  Milton 
and  Burke,  instinct  like  the  latter  fulminations  with 
a  longing  for  right  rule  and  plain  justice,  with  a 
scorn  for  the  immorality  of  the  nobles  and  the  infamy 
of  the  court,  and  a  terrible  resentment  at  the  perver- 
sion of  the  law. 

Formidable  insurrections  broke  out.  The  rebels  of 
Kent  and  Sussex  marched  upon  London  with  such 
boldness  and  in  such  multitudes  that  op-  Bearing  of 
position  to  them  seemed  impossible.  Rich-  ^^^'^^^^'^  ^^■ 
ard  II,  lately  crowned,  a  boy  of  fifteen,  made  a  speech 
from  a  boat  in  the  Thames  to  the  crowd  on  the 
banks.     The  youth  in  these  days  bore  himself  with 

1  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  p.  250,  etc. 


76  ANGLO-SAXON  FllEEDOxM. 

all  the  bravery  of  a  true  Plantagenet.  His  portrait  as 
a  young  man  still  looks  down  upon  you  in  the  choir 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  the  earliest  contemporary 
representation  extant  of  any  English  sovereign.^  The 
cheeks  are  full  and  florid,  the  hair  ruddy,  the  eye,  one 
thinks,  capable  of  frank  and  kindly  expression,  the 
figure  kingly.  The  insurgent  laborers  felt  kindly 
toward  the  handsome,  spirited  boy ;  but  when  those 
who  surrounded  him  refused  to  allow  him  to  land 
among  them,  they  shouted  angrily  their  war-cries, 
and  along  the  lanes,  full  of  the  beauty  of  June, 
poured  wrathfully  toward  the  great  city.  The  poorer 
artisans  opened  the  gates  to  them ;  at  once  fire  was 
put  to  the  palace  of  John  of  Gaunt,  the  head  of  the 
brutal  nobles ;  to  the  houses  of  foreign  merchants, 
for  there  was  a  vehement,  probably  an  unreasonable, 
hatred  against  things  un-English;  and  also  to  the 
quarters  of  the  lawyers  in  the  Temple,  for  whom 
there  was  especial  dislike,  as  the  class  from  which 
were  drawn  the  .manorial  stewards,  the  usual  instru- 
ments of  oppression. 

In  this  rising,  declared  by  Stubbs  to  be  one  of  the 
most  portentous  events  of  English  history,  the  most 
Wat  Tyler  notcwortliy  leader  was  Wat  Tyler,  of 
of  Essex.  Essex,  a  man  of  excellent  purposes  and 
ability,  however  rough.  In  the  revolt,  he  tried  hard 
to  impose  upon  his  followers  a  wholesome  discipline ; 
a  plunderer  carrying  a  silver  vessel  from  the  burning 
palace  of  John  of  Gaunt  was  himself  thrown  into 
the  flames.  By  such  sharp  reminders  he  taught  his 
men  that  the  effort  in  behalf  of  better  justice  could 
not  be  served  by  thieves  and  robbers.     Tliere  is  some 

1  Stanley :  Memorials  of  Westmiuster  Abbey,  p.  147. 


THE  COMING  UP  OF  THE  SERFS.      77 

reason  for  supposing  he  cherished  a  high  plan  for  the 
overthrow  of  feudalism  and  a  restoration  of  the  old 
government  of  counties  and  districts,  through  the 
ancient  moots  of  the  people  ;  in  a  word,  Anglo-Saxon 
freedom.  The  scheme  in  that  day  was  wild  and 
premature,  but  in  the  stout-hearted  laborer  may  be 
beheld  some  of  the  traits  of  a  Cromwell.^  His  hour 
soon  came.  The  crowd  of  rebels,  no  doubt  rough 
and  unsavory  to  the  last  degree,  overran  London, 
browbeating  courtier  and  citizen.  At  the  Tower, 
they  took  by  the  beard  in  rude  horse-play  the  knights 
of  the  royal  household,  declaring  that  henceforth 
they  were  to  be  fellows  and  comrades ;  but  presently 
after,  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  John  (the  Norman  arches 
of  which,  together  with  the  gray  columns  and  ancient 
carving,  the  visitor  may  still  admire),  they  found 
lurking  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  against  whom 
they  cherished  an  especial  spite.  He  was  haled  from 
sanctuary,  and  at  once  beheaded;  nor  was  that  the 
only  homicide.  "  We  will  that  you  free  us  forever," 
cried  a  multitude,  meeting  the  King  in  the  streets, 
"  us  and  our  lands  ;  and  that  we  be  never  named  nor 
held  for  serfs."  "  I  grant  it,"  said  Richard,  and  bade 
them  go  home,  pledging  himself  to  issue  charters  of 
freedom  and  amnesty.  On  June  15th,  Richard  and 
Wat  Tyler  came  face  to  face  at  Smithfield.  During 
the  interview,  Walworth,  lord  mayor  of  London, 
struck  the  popular  champion  dead  with  a  sudden 
thrust  of  his  dagger.  "  Kill,  kill  !  "  thundered  the 
crowd.  "  They  have  slain  our  captain  I "  "I  am 
your  captain  and  your  King,"  cried  young  Richard, 

1  J.  Thorold  Rogers:  History  of  Agriculture  and  Prices  in  England, 
I,  p.  94. 


78  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

riding  promptly  and  fearlessly  to  the  front  of  the 
crowd.  "  Follow  me."  They  followed  him  loyally 
and  trustingly ;  for  the  people  had  a  firm  faith  that 
could  the  sovereign  be  but  separated  from  evil  coun- 
sellors, their  grievances  would  be  fully  redressed. 
Richard  promised  faithfully ;  a  throng  of  clerks  was 
Treachery  of  ^^^  ^^  work  to  prepare  charters,  which  were 
the  King.  issucd  by  thc  score,  securing  to  their  re- 
ceivers ample  rights.  Only  treachery,  however,  was 
in  the  minds  of  the  King  and  his  nobles.  When  the 
insurgents  were  dispersed,  at  the  earliest  safe  moment 
the  sternest  vengeance  was  exacted.  The  pledges  were 
broken;  fire  and  sword  raged  throughout  the  land. 
Seven  thousand  died  on  the  gallows  and  in  the  field. 

A  few  incidents  are  related  of  that  time  of  blood, 
showing  how  true  was  the  temper  of  those  strivers 
for  freedom,  At  St.  Albans,  for  instance,  near  Lon- 
don, the  rule  of  the  great  abbey  over  its  tenantry  had 
been  most  oppressive.  In  the  uprising,  the  laborers 
had  obtained  a  charter,  and  full  of  joy,  they  tore 
from  the  pavement  of  the  cloisters  the  mill-stones, 
which  were  laid  there  in  token  that  grain  could  be 
ground  nowhere  on  the  demesne  but  at  the  abbey 
mill ;  these  were  broken  to  pieces  in  proof  of  the 
emancipation,  "  like  blessed  bread  in  chui'ch."  When 
the  rebels,  taken  at  disadvantage,  were  put  down, 
William  Grindecobbe,  their  leader,  was  offered  his  life 
if  he  would  persuade  the  St.  Albans  men  to  restore 
the  charter.  lie  bravely  bade  his  followers  to  take 
no  thought  for  liim.  "  If  I  die,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  die 
for  the  cause  of  the  freedom  we  have  won,  counting 
myself  happy  to  end  my  life  by  such  a  martyrdom." 

When  Richard  was  reproached  for  his  faithlessness, 


THE   COMIXG  UP  OF  THE  SERFS.  79 

he  answered,  with  an  insolence  as  precocious  as  the 
cool  self-possession  he  had  shown  in  the  time  of 
danger :  "  Villeins  you  were,  and  villeins  you  are. 
In  bondage  you  shall  abide,  and  that  not  your  old 
bondage,  but  a  worse."  It  is.  melancholy  to  read  of 
the  conduct  of  Parliament  in  this  crisis. 
Assembled  on  the  suppression  of  the  revolt,  temper  of 

^  Parliament. 

the  Parliament  was  met  by  a  royal  message, 
indicating  a  willingness  to  yield.  "  If  you  desire  to 
enfranchise  and  set  at  liberty  the  serfs  by  your  com- 
mon assent,  as  the  King  has  been  informed  that  some 
of  you  desire,  he  will  consent  to  your  prayer."  But 
the  Parliament  was  stern.  The  King's  charters,  it 
was  answered  truthfully,  were  legally  null  and  void, 
as  not  being  authorized  by  the  national  council. 
"  Their  serfs  were  their  goods,  and  the  King  could 
not  take  their  goods  from  them  but  by  their  own 
consent ;  and  this  consent  we  have  never  given  and 
never  will  give,  were  we  all  to  die  in  one  day."  ^ 

The  cause  of  the  revolted  villeins  seemed  to  go  down 
in  blood,  but  really  a  vital  blow  had  been  struck  at 
villeinage,  and  the  condition  of  the  laborers  improved. 
In  spite  of  violence  and  threats  from  those  high  in 
place,  the  process  continued,  the  class  of  yeomen  being 
steadily  recruited  from  those  coming  up  from  below. 

"  When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ?  " 

the  question  asked  in  all  the  shops  and  fields  of 
England  in  Wat  Tjder's  day,  continued  to  be  pro- 
pounded, though  perhaps  under  the  breath,  and  the 
democratic  spirit  thus  kept  alive  was  before  long 
again  to  show  itself. 

1  Green :  Short  History,  pp.  254,  255. 


80  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   TIMES   OF   THE  LANCASTRIANS. 

Henry  IV,  1399.  Edward  IV,  1461. 

Henry  V,  1413.  Edward  V,  1483. 

Henry  VI,  1422.  Richard  III,  1483. 

Among  the  sovereigns  of  England,  Richard  II  has 
the  unenviable  distinction  of  entertaining  the  most 
^      ...      ,    extreme  notion  of  the  royal  prerogative, 

Deposition  of  j  jr  o  ' 

Richard  II.  ^iid  of  liaviiig  Urged  most  strongly  the 
idea  of  hereditary  succession,  as  opposed  to  the  popu- 
lar choice.  He  tried  to  make  himself  absolute,  strik- 
ing at  the  very  root  of  the  freedom  now  in  process  of 
revival.  Aiming  at  a  recognition  of  despotism,  he 
tried  to  supersede  Parliament  by  a  commission.  In 
Parliament  there  was  little  representation  as  yet  of 
the  humbler  classes.  So  it  was  to  be  for  many  cen- 
turies,—  in  fact,  until  the  influence  of  American 
example  began  to  be  felt.  Nevertheless,  it  stood, 
however  imperfectly,  for  the  nation,  and  in  these 
days  was  determined  not  to  crouch  before  the  King. 
When  Richard  II  therefore  claimed  that  the  nation 
must  provide  for  him  whether  he  behaved  well  or  ill, 
—  that,  as  supreme  law-giver,  he  could  dispense  with 
a  statute,  alter  its  wording,  or  I'cvoke  it  entirely,  — 
that  he  might,  in  fact,  do  away  with  any  institution 
interfering  with  his  tl;eory  of  sovereign  right,  Par- 


THE   TIMES   OF   THE  LANCASTRIANS.  81 

liament,  in  1399,  deposed  him,  and  chose  a  prince 
of  the  Lancastrian  line  to  rule  in  his  p^^^^  ^^  p^^^. 
place.  In  this  successful  assumption  of  ''*°'«°'- 
right,  Parliament  raised  itself  to  a  position  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  which  it  vindicated  for  itself  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  against  the  oppressions 
of  Charles  I.  By  successive  steps  the  Commons  had 
become  the  active  and  aggressive  force  of  the  national 
council.  At  first,  "  Vos  himbles,  pauvres  Communes 
prient  et  suppUent  pour  Dieu  et  en  oeiivre  cle  cliarite^'' 
that  their  petitions  may  be  granted.  Soon  they  estab- 
lish the  principle  that  no  grants  can  come  until  griev- 
ances are  redressed.  They  next  claim  the  right  to 
examine  the  royal  accounts,  to  regulate  the  royal 
expenditures ;  and  at  last  they  hold  responsible  to 
themselves  the  ministers  and  depose  the  King.^ 

At  the  accession  of  Henry  IV  Parliament  seemed 
likely,  indeed,  to  become  supreme.  In  1406,  the 
demands  of  the  Commons  and  the  concessions  of  the 
King,  who,  aware  that  he  owed  his  dignity  to  parlia- 
mentary election,  dared  not  withstand  the  legislature, 
amounted  almost  to  a  supersession  of  royal  authority. 
Never  before,  and  not  for  two  hundi-ed  years  after, 
were  the  Commons  so  strong  as  under  Henry  IV, 
and  among  them,  as  before,  the  leaders  were  the 
sturdy  knights-of-the-shire.  A  long  step  was  taken 
in  this  reign  toward  a  recognition  of  the  important 
principle  that  money-grants  must  originate  in  the 
lower  House.  But  the  House  of  Commons  was  more 
and  more  losing  touch  with  the  people.  To  be  sure, 
the  knights-of-the-shire  were  still  elected  in  the  old 
shire-moots,  every  freeman  having  a  voice,  though  in 

1  Hannis  Taylor :  Origin  and  Growth  of  Eug.  Const.,  I,  p.  444. 


82  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  case  of  the  poor  and  hmdless  the  voice  was 
scarcely  appreciable.  The  functions  of  the  shire- 
moots  were  becoming,  however,  greatly  restricted. 
As  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  III  we  find  side  by 
side  with  them  in  each  county  the  Court  of  Quarter 
Sessions,  made  up  of  justices  appointed  by  royal  fiat, 
and  these  were  fast  absorbing  all  judicial  and  admin- 
istrative powers.  The  time  was  coming  when  the 
broad  suffrage  of  the  shire-moots  was  also  to  be 
greatly  curtailed. 

Henry  V  was  a  great  constitutional  King.  Probably 
nation  and  sovereign  have  never  been  so  completely  at 
Popularity  of  ^^^  ^^  uudcr  him.  A  glamour  surrounds 
Henry  V.  ^^q  sccoud  Lancastrian  such  as  attaches  to 
no  other  sovereign  of  England.  He  was  the  ideal  of 
Shakspere,  in  whose  portraj'al  of  him,  first  as  Prince 
Hal,  and  then  as  a  brilliant,  heroic  leader,  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  most  consummate  genius  are  lavished. 
Shakspere  had,  unmistakably,  as  a  subject  for  his 
picture  a  man  of  noble  qualities,  and  probal)ly  has 
not  greatly  exaggerated  the  traits.  Sober  history  is 
scarcely  calmer  in  its  eulogy  than  the  lines  of  the  poet. 
Into  what  he  might  have  matured  had  he  lived  longer, 
no  one  can  say ;  but  no  King  so  holds  the  hearts  of 
the  English-speaking  race,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  Alfred,  as  the  young  victor  of  Agincourt.  It  is  an 
interesting  moment  for  any  thoughtful  man,  when, 
with  his  mind  charged  with  tlie  immortal  Shaksperian 
delineations,  the  wild  frolicking  witli  Falstaff,  the 
chivalric  prowess  at  Shrewsl)ury,  tlie  camp-fires  in 
Picardy,  by  which  "  each  battle  sees  the  otlier's 
umbered  face,"  the  deeds  tlie  next  day  of  the  men 
whose  hearts  were  in  trim  though  "  there  Avas  no  piece 


THE   TIMES   OF   THE   LANCASTRIANS.  83 

of  feather  in  the  host,"  —  he  stands  before  'the  head- 
less effigy  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  looks  up  at  the 
relics  above,  —  the  spear,  the  saddle,  the  helmet,  so 
far  to  the  front  with  the  King  in  the  melee,  when  the 
knights  of  France  underwent  such  humiliation.  Like 
his  father,  Henry  V  knew  well  that  he  had  no  title 
except  that  he  had  been  chosen  by  the  nation  to  rule. 
Parliament  was  becoming  oligarchical ;  Henry  was 
more  democratic  even  than  his  House  of  Commons, 
asserting  often  the  rights  of  the  unrepresented  against 
class-legislation.^  He  was  the  idol  of  high  and  low. 
He  gave  himself  to  the  nation,  and  the  nation  took 
him  to  its  heart,  surrendering  itself  to  his  leadership 
with  full  confidence  in  his  capacity  and  good-will. 
The  knights-of-the-shire  upheld  him  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Chapter  House ;  the  people  poured  money 
into  his  coffers,  making  nothing  of  the  heavy  sums, 
because  the  right  to  give  and  the  right  to  withhold 
were  fully  recognized;  the  children  of  the  people, 
"  the  good  yeomen  whose  limbs  were  made  in  Eng- 
land," 2  proved  abundantly  on  foreign  fields  "  the 
mettle  of  their  pasture,"  making  light,  for  the  sake  of 
such  a  King,  of  cold  and  hunger  and  hard  marching ; 
while  on  the  battle-day,  as  matchless  archers,  they 
pierced  the  panoply  of  the  best  chivalry  of  Europe 
to  such  effect  as  almost  to  destroy  France. 

Evil  days,  however,  were  at  hand.  The  world  was 
not  ready  for  parliamentary  government.  With  the 
Lancastrians,  it  seemed  at  first  on  the  point  of  being 

1  Church :  Henry  V,  p.  92. 

2  The  fifteenth  century  was  the  golden  age  of  the  English  yeomanry, 
a  degree  of  social  equality  then  existing  such  as  has  not  often  been  wit- 
nessed.—  Rev.  S.  W.  Thackeray  :  Land  and  the  Community,  pp.  28,  29. 


84  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

realized,  but  a  reaction  set  in.  "  The  Wars  of  the 
Roses,"  says  Comines,  found  England,  "  among  all 
the  world's  lordships  of  which  I  have  knowledge, 
that  where  the  public  weal  is  best  ordered,  and  where 
least  violence  reigns  over  the  people."  An  English 
King  "  can  undertake  no  enterprise  of  moment  with- 
out assembling  his  Parliament,  which  is  a  thing  most 
wise  and  holy,  and  therefore  are  their  Kings  better 
served  "  than  the  absolute  sovereigns  of  the  conti- 
nent.^    Just  as  the  Lancastrian  power  was 

Fortescue  on  .  i     vi        tt  p    -^-r      i 

the  English      passiug  away,  and  the  House  oi   lork  was 

constitution.       ,  .  ,    •      t  o-      t    i 

becommg  supreme,  a  great  judge,  bir  John 
Fortescue,  set  forth  in  noble  terms  the  constitutional 
view  of  the  dynasty  which  was  perishing.  The  King, 
he  declares,  exists  for  the  kingdom  ;  not  the  kingdom 
for  the  King.  His  power  is  derived  from  the  people, 
without  whose  consent  he  can  neither  change  the 
laws  nor  impose  taxes.  The  good  King  rules,  not 
from  the  desire  of  power,  but  to  take  care  of  others. 
The  origin  of  kingship  is  the  will  of  the  people ;  and 
though  its  conservation  is  secured  by  hereditary  suc- 
cession, yet  righteous  judgment  is  its  true  sustaining 
power  and  justification.  The  King  is  not  only  a  sov- 
ereign lord,  but  a  public  servant,  —  not  less  than  the 
Pope,  a  '■'- servus  servonim  Deiy^  Under  the  Lan- 
castrians, the  right  of  the  Commons  to  share  in  legis- 
lation of  every  kind  and  to  debate  freely  all  matters 
of  public  interest  was  admitted.  The  two  Houses  of 
Parliament  were  regarded  as  co-ordinate,  equal,  and 
mutually  dependent  assemblies.  While  the  Lords 
held  judicial  power,  the  Commons  originated  grants. 

1  Quoted  by  J.  R.  Green:  History  of  tlie  Euglish  People,  II,  p.  5. 

2  Fortescue :  De  Laudibus  Legum  Aiigliiie. 


THE   TIMES  OF   THE   LANCASTRIANS.  85 

Freedom  of  discussion  in  the  lower  House  was  not 
to  be  interfered  with ;  no  member  was  to  be  called  to 
account  for  words  spoken  in  debate.  The  House  of 
Commons  in  theory  now  and  long  afterward  repre- 
sented fully  and  fairly  the  nation. 

Unfortunately,  theory  and  practice  did  not  coincide. 
Indeed,  the  people  themselves  seemed  to  hang  back. 
The  constituencies  often  regarded  the  sending  of 
members  to  Parliament  as  a  burden,  and  those  elected 
often  went  unwillingly.  In  Henry  Vth's  day,  their 
trust  in  the  sovereign  was  so  great  that  they  did  not 
care  to  assume  the  burden  of  self-government.  The 
times  when  public  spirit  is  most  vivid  are  times 
when  tyrants  most  oppress.  Kings  weak  and  wicked 
are  sometimes  greater  benefactors  than  the  strong 
and  good. 

Notwithstanding  that  Parliament  now  had  asserted 
itself  so  strongly,  we  have  to  notice  the 

,  Sudden  decay 

fact,  at  first  view  very  remarkable,  that  the  of  the  power 

'  -^  of  Parliament. 

nation  suddenly  in  its  progress  exhibited 
a  reactionary  spirit  from  wliich  it  did  not  recover  for 
a  century  and  a  half.  The  change,  though  surprising, 
is  explicable.  In  the  first  place,  widespread  com- 
punction had  been  felt  on  account  of  the  deposition 
of  Richard  II.  That  the  King  should  be  hereditary 
as  well  as  elected  was  ingrained  in  the  ideas  of  the 
time.     Richard  had  believed  that 

"  Not  all  the  water  in  the  rude,  rough  sea 
Can  wash  the  balm  from  an  anointed  King," 

and  multitudes  of  his  subjects  were  far  from  being 
indisposed  to  acquiesce.  Though  the  doctrine  of  the 
jus  divinum,  the  divine  right  of  the  next  of  kin  to  be 


86  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

cliosen,  was  by  no  means  as  yet  established,  there  was 
a  tendency  in  that  direction.  Tlie  uneasiness  felt  by 
the  people  over  the  treatment  of  Richard  was  re- 
garded by  them  as  an  admonition  of  conscience ;  and 
when  after  his  speedy  death  the  memory  of  his 
unwortliiness  died  out,  and  the  disposition  grew 
stronger  and  stronger  to  credit  him  with  virtues  that 
he  did  not  possess,  repentance  became  deep  in  the 
hearts  of  many  on  account  of  the  deposition  of  1399. 
The  Lancastrian  Kings  themselves  probably  shared 
with  the  people  this  uneasiness.  Shakspere  makes 
it  one  element  of  the  heart-break  of  Henry  IV  that 
he  felt  his  occupation  of  the  throne  to  be  unlawful; 
and  in  the  most  critical  moment  of  the  career  of 
Henry  V,  the  night  before  Agincourt,  he  vows  noth- 
ing more  devoutly  than  to  provide  masses  for  the 
repose  of  Richard's  soul.  The  strong  qualities  of 
the  first  Lancastrians  kept  this  remorse  in  their 
subjects  in  check ;  but  when  Henry  VI  succeeded,  a 
prince  under  whose  weak  sway  great  suffering  had 
come  to  pass,  the  sentiment  rapidly  grew,  preparing 
the  way  for  a  noteworthy  enhancement  of  the  power 
of  the  King,  which  we  shall  presently  have  to  notice. 
In  the  second  place,  the  House  of  Commons  now 
took  a  course  which  greatly  depressed  its  character. 
In  1429,  a  statute  was  passed  restricting 

Misfortunes  t  n  ^   •  ^ 

of  representa-  tlic  irancluse,  the  uiost  reactionary  meas- 

tion  in  tlie  i  i  -r» 

Bhircs  and        urc,  savs  1  reeman,^  ever  taken  by  a  i  ar- 

boroughs.  /-^  i    •  • 

liament.  Complaint  is  expressed  that 
county  elections  have  been  made  by  "  a  very  great, 
outrageous,  and  excessive  number  of  people  dwelling 

^  Freeman:   Growth  of  the  English  Constitution,  p.   101.    Taswelt 
Langmead :  English  Constitutional  History,  p.  340,  etc. 


THE   TIMES   OF   THE   LANCASTRIANS.  87 

within  the  same  counties,  of  which  most  part  was 
people  of  small  substance  and  of  no  value,  whereof 
every  of  them  pretended  a  voice  equivalent,  as  to 
such  elections  to  be  made,  with  tlie  most  worthy- 
knights  and  esquires  dwelling  within  the  same  coun- 
ties." To  prevent,  therefore,  "  the  manslaughters, 
riots,  batteries,  and  divisions,"  which  were  likely  to 
take  place,  no  one  was  to  vote  who  did  not  possess 
"  free  land  or  tenement  to  the  value  of  forty  shillings 
by  the  year,  at  least,  above  all  charges."  Forty  shil- 
lings in  that  day  Avas  equivalent  to  forty  pounds  at 
present ;  the  execution  of  the  law  led  to  a  widespread 
disenfranchisement  of  poor  men. 

While  calamity  thus  fell  upon  the  shires,  the  large- 
ness of  borough  life  began  also  to  be  much  curtailed. 
Charters  were  procured  from  the  Crown,  which 
turned  many  boroughs  into  close  bodies,  excluding  all 
from  the  franchise  who  were  not  burgesses  by  birth 
or  long  apprenticeship.  Borough-moots  generally  had 
disappeared,  giving  place  to  councils  which  were 
either  close  corporations  or  the  members  of  which 
were  elected  solely  by  the  wealthier  burgesses.  The 
new  charters,  for  the  most  part,  conferred  the  right  of 
choosing  the  parliamentary  representatives  upon  these 
councils,  or  upon  a  still  more  restricted  body  called 
the  "  select  men,"  appointed  from  the  council.  Here 
began  the  process  of  degradation,  which,  before  long, 
made  borough-representation  a  mockery.  Corrupt 
influences  found  here  an  easy  opportunity.  The 
small  electing  cliques  could  easily  be  bought  up  or 
intimidated,  or  in  some  way  cajoled  by  the  great 
nobles,  land-owners,  or  the  Crown.  Hence  the  rep- 
resentatives Avere  often  but  nominees  and  creatures 


o8  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

of  the  powerful.  The  boroughs  were  seized  on  by 
the  great  as  theh"  prey,  by  means  of  which  they  coukl 
send  to  the  House  of  Commons  their  subservient 
instruments.  As  has  been  seen,  the  borougli-repre* 
sentation  in  the  lower  House  had  not  from  the  first 
been  as  efficient  as  that  of  the  shires.  From  the  time 
we  have  reached  it  deteriorated,  the  members  stand- 
ing in  no  proper  sense  for  the  populations  in  whose 
name  they  held  their  places.  In  the  constitutional 
history  of  our  race  no  abuses  are  more  inveterate  than 
those  arising  from  this  cause,  abuses  not  remedied 
until  the  time  of  the  younger  Pitt  and  Lord  John 
Russell. 

Since  both  in  shire  and  borough  so  little  account 
was  taken  for  a  representation  of  the  people,  Parlia- 
ment shrank  fast  into  the  shape  of  an  oligarchy  rep- 
resenting only  the  rich  and  powerful,  and  prepared 
to  become  the  subservient  tool  of  the  sovereigns. 
All  this  abuse  did  not  pass  without  protest.  Hitherto, 
all  suitors  who  had  attended  the  sheriff's  court  had 
voted  without  danger  of  challencre  for  the  knig-hts-of- 
the-shire.  Nothing  in  the  land  was  more  ancient 
than  those  venerable  moots.  For  more  tlian  a  thou- 
sand years  the  forefathers  had  gathered  from  hun- 
dred and  tithing,  and  every  land-holding  man  had 
had  his  voice.  Wlien  Earl  Simon  called  into  being 
the  House  of  Conunons,  this  general  suffrage  under- 
went no  abridgment.  In  electing  the  two  "  discreet 
knights,"  even  the  villeins  had  had  an  influence, 
though  it  might  be  small.  To  some  extent,  the 
knights-of-the-shii'c  woi'c  genuinely  repi-esentative  of 
the  people,  and  the  steady  advance  of  the  House  of 
Commons  into  power,  as  the  middle  ages  give  way 


THE   TIMES  OF   THE   LANCASTRIANS.  89 

to  the  modern  era,  was  due  to  their  effective  leader- 
ship. In  Wat  Tyler's  day  there  seems  to  have  been 
in  Parliament  a  small  minority  who  stood  even  for 
the  very  poor.^  The  gulf  was  now  widening  be- 
tween high  and  low,  and  the  low-born  soon  found  a 
champion. 

History  has  too  often  portrayed  unfairly  the  medi- 
aeval uprisings  of  artisans  and  laborers,  doing  the 
scantest  possible  justice  to  the  leaders  who  j^^^  (-,^^^^,3 
stood  in  the  fore-front  of  danger,  often  "^^"1°°- 
giving  their  lives  to  their  cause.  The  Froissarts  and 
Monstrelets  find  nothing  attractive  in  the  citizen  or 
cultivator  as  compared  with  the  brilliant  knight,  and 
pass  him  by  with  a  curt  word  of  contempt  or  even 
hatred.  When  poetry  conspires  with  history  to  be- 
little and  malign,  we  may  well  feel  in  our  democratic 
days  that  hard  measure  has  been  accorded,  and  it 
is  a  grateful  task  to  say  a  word  on  the  other  side. 
When  Jack  Cade,  in  1450,  at  the  head  of  a  multitude 
of  poor  men,  gi-andsons  of  those  yeomen  of  Kent 
whom  John  Ball  had  fired  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  rights  seventy  years  before,  burst  into  London 
and  held  the  city  at  his  mercy,  Shakspere,  drawing  a 
picture  for  the  aristocratic  patrons  of  his  theatre,  por- 
trays him  for  us  as  an  unruly  churl,  whose  cause  had 
no  dignity,  and  who,  if  he  had  succeeded,  would 
have  instituted  a  reign  of  coarse  license.  We  have, 
as  we  read,  no  sympathy  with  him  or  those  whom  he 
led  when  the  revolt  is  rolled  back,  and  Alexander 
Iden  takes  the  life  of  the  miserable  fugitive.  But 
the  rising  of  which  Jack  Cade  was  the  central  figure, 
like  that  of  which  Wat  Tyler  was  the  central  figure, 

1  See  the  speech  of  Richard  II  to  Parliament,  p.  79. 


90  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

was  really  provoked  by  grievous  oppression,  —  by 
unjust  and  harmful  innovations  upon  the  old  order 
of  things,  against  which  the  mass  of  the  people  stur- 
dily but  vainly  braced  themselves,  no  revolutionists, 
but  thorough  conservatives.  "  It  was  sought  to  draw 
a  distinction  between  gentlemen  and  other  people," 
they  complained ;  declaring,  moreover,  "  that  the 
people  of  the  shires  are  not  allowed  to  have  free 
elections  in  choosing  knights,  but  letters  have  been 
sent  from  divers  estates  to  the  great  nobles  of  the 
county,  enforcing  tlie  tenants  and  others  to  choose 
other  persons  than  the  common  will  is." 

The  protest  failed  of  effect ;  the  ancient  freedom 
was  pushed  back ;  the  people  struggling  for  a  liberty 
Justice  of  his  oucc  their  possession  were  roughly  beaten 
*'^"*^'  to  the  earth.     It  belongs  to  us  to  tliink  of 

them  and  their  leaders  not  contemptuously,  but  com- 
passionately and  reverently.  When  we  have  had  in 
our  imaginations  that  scene  in  Smith  field,  in  whicli 
the  lord  mayor  of  London  struck  with  his  dagger 
Wat  Tyler,  asking  for  a  redress  of  grievances  at  the 
head  of  his  peasant  army,  admiration  probably  has 
flowed  toward  the  brilliant  young  King  whose  cool- 
ness and  address  turned  the  incident  to  his  own 
advantage ;  and  not  toward  the  man,  wlio,  by  sorrow 
over  the  woes  of  the  land,  liad  been  called  from  his 
humble  toil.  The  soul  of  Richard,  however,  was 
black  then  witli  cruelty  and  treachery,  and  lie  speedily 
matured  into  a  tyrant;  wliile  his  victim,  it  is  now 
declared,  possessed  the  sturdy  virtue  and  nnicli  of  the 
ability  of  a  Cromwell.  So,  too,  we  can  read  between 
the  lines  of  calunmiating  chroniclers  traits  of  the  hero 
in  Jack  Cade.     AVe  pause  reverently  under  the  old 


THE   TIMES   OF   THE   LAXCASTRIANS.  91 

elm  at  Cambridge,  in  whose  shadow  flashed  the  sword 
of  Washington  as  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the  yeomen 
who  were  to  bring  to  grief,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
prerogative  and  privilege.  Why  not  stand  with  simi- 
lar reverence  before  "  London  Stone,"  built  into  the 
church  foundation  there  in  Cannon  Street,  which  tra- 
dition says  was  touched  by  the  sword  of  Jack  Cade  ? 
He,  too,  stood  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  yeomen,  like 
Washington's  host,  hard  of  hand  from  the  flail  and  the 
plough-handle,  beaten  by  the  weather  as  they  wrested 
from  the  earth  their  food  and  raiment.  Indeed,  the 
lineal  forefathers  of  Washington's  men  at  Cambridge 
were,  to  some  extent,  those  very  men  of  Cade.^  The 
cause  in  the  two  cases  was  substantially  the  same. 
Each  leader  was  a  strict  conservative,  striving  to  vin- 
dicate from  encroachment  immemorial  rights,  upon 
which  those  high  in  place  had  laid  sacrilegious  hands. 
To  one  the  fates  were  kind,  and  his  name  is  among 
those  most  honored  of  men.  The  other  failed ;  he 
was  hunted  to  his  death,  and  upon  his  grave  has  been 
heaped  little  but  contumely.  The  fulness  of  time  has 
come ;  the  people,  in  Avhose  l)ehalf  these  leaders 
strove,  has  become  supreme.  Will  not  the  people 
accord  to  the  victims  something  of  the  honor  which 
it  has  bestowed  upon  the  victors  ? 

During   the   Wars  of   the   Roses    the    Lancastrian 
power  went  down,  while  the  House  of  York,  in  the 
person  of  Edward  IV,  in  1461,  attained  the  The  wars  of 
throne.       Though    the    great    nobles    and 
their  retainers   were   largely   cut   off   in    the    l)loody 

1  This  was  especially  the  case,  perhaps,  as  regards  the  men  from 
Middlesex  Co.,  Mass. ;  Concord,  for  instance,  was  peopled  by  descend- 
ants of  yeomen  of  Kent.       .  ^ 


92  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

battles,  the  nation  at  large  suffered  surprisingly  little, 
undergoing  slight  disturbance,  enjoying,  indeed,  a 
certain  amount  of  prosperity  even  while  the  armies 
clashed.  Naturally,  the  power  of  Parliament  in  these 
years  rapidly  died  down.  While  the  Lords  were  to 
such  an  extent  destroyed,  the  Commons,  through 
causes  which  have  been  detailed,  became  obsequious. 
The  more  the  upper  middle  class  stood  out  as  gentry, 
and  after  the  wide  disappearance  of  the  high  nobility 
became  an  important  body,  the  greater  became  the 
separation  between  the  upper  middle  class  and  the 
orders  below  them.  Parliament  had  become  mainly 
the  representative  of  the  gentry.  The  lower  mass, 
deeply  estranged  by  the  injustice  and  contempt  visited 
ujDon  them,  were  more  disposed  to  trust  the  King 
than  those  who  had  thrust  them  down.  It  is  easy  to 
see  why  there  was  no  murmuring  when  Edward  IV, 
neglecting  almost  entirely  the  ancient  ceremonies  of 
election  and  recognition,  claimed  to  be  the  rightful 
King  solely  as  the  heir  of  Richard  II.  It  was,  says 
Stubbs,  a  complete  legitimist  restoration,  the  proceed- 
ing presenting  the  strongest  possible  contrast  to  that 
at  the  accession  of  Henry  IV,  two  generations  before. 
Edward  went  on  as  he  began ;  parliamentary  action 
was  suspended  for  years  together,  and  during  the 
whole  reign,  for  the  first  time  in  English  history, 
there  was  no  single  enactment  for  increasing  the 
security  or  liberty  of  the  subject.  Richard  III,  sus- 
tained by  no  proper  title,  catching  at  every  straw  to 
keep  himself  afloat  in  his  ill-gotten  dignity,  sought  a 
recognition  from  l^arliament  and  from  the  citizens  of 
London,  but  it  was  a  farcical  travesty  of  the  solemn 
and  venerable  form  of  election. 


THE   TIMES  OF   THE   LAXCASTRTAXS.  93 

With  the  ohl  Baronage  destroyed  and  tlie  political 
strength  of  the  Commons  so  far  gone  in  decay,  the 
strength  of  the  Crown  at  the  end  of  the  Accession  of 
fifteenth  century  was  nearly  doubled,  a  ^  "  °^^' 
change  so  marked  as  to  be  little  short  of  a  revolution. 
At  the  very  hour  when  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  seemed 
about  to  be  irrecoverably  lost,  certain  Bristol  ships 
piloted  by  Venetian  sailors,  the  Cabots,  father  and 
son,  touched,  first  of  civilized  men,  the  shores  of  a 
vast  continent  to  the  west.  In  that  continent,  for 
the  first  time,  freedom  was  to  have  its  full  recognition 
and  development ;  largely  through  influences  going 
back  from  that  continent,  freedom  for  the  mother- 
land also  was,  after  centuries  of  doubt,  to  be  fully 
secured ;  —  for  the  mother-land  and  also  for  mighty 
Anglo-Saxon  peoples  in  the  ends  of  the  earth. 


94  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

DEPRESSION   OF   THE   POWER   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

Henry  VII,  1485.  Edward  VI,  1547.  James  I,  1603. 

Henry  VIII,  1509.  Mary,  1553.  Charles  I,  1625. 

Elizabeth,  1558. 

We  have  reached  now  the  period  of  the  Tudoi-s. 

When  Heniy  VII  acceded   to  the  throne,  in  1485, 

but  twenty-nine  Lords  were  left  as  a  rem- 

Groat  increase 

of  the  power     naiit  of  tlic  old  nobilitv ;  a  continual  hu- 

of  the  Crown.  ... 

niiliation  of  the  weakened  Baronage  was  a 
main  object  of  his  policy,  which  he  had  no  difficulty 
in  following  out.  The  growth  of  the  royal  authority 
became  with  Henry  VIII  portentous,  a  sudden  accel- 
eration taking  place  in  consequence  of  the  extinction 
of  still  another  power,  which  heretofore  had  done 
much  to  keep  it  in  check.  In  our  narrative,  it  has 
been  made  apparent  that  in  the  Lancastrian  epoch 
and  the  years  just  preceding,  the  champions  of  free- 
dom were  in  the  main  the  knights-of-the-shire.  Still 
earlier  the  Barons,  in  the  time  of  ]Magna  Charta  and 
the  reform  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  by  wresting  from 
nascent  despotism  a  portion  of  the  nation's  rights, 
improperly  alienated,  gave  the  popular  leadere  the 
vantage-ground  without  which  they  would  have  failed 
of  opportunity.  In  a  time  yet  earlier,  it  was  the 
Church  that  liad  stood  foremost  in  the  contest  for 
liberty,   its   policy   during   the    early   Middle    Ages, 


DEPRESSION   OF   TOWER   OF   PARLIAMENT.     95 

against  the  violence  of  William  Rufus,  the  confused 
lawlessness  of  the  reign  of  Stephen,  the  cunning  of 
Henry  I,  constitviting  one  long  protest  against  the 
predominance  of  mere  brute  strength.^  It  was  due 
to  Langton  and  the  ecclesiastics  mainly,  indeed,  that 
the  Great  Charter  contained  so  many  popular  features, 
though  the  Barons  then  were  coming  into  the  fore- 
ground. In  fact,  until  the  period  we  have  now 
reached,  though  less  prominent,  perhaps,  in  the  later 
centuries  than  the  earlier,  the  Church  is  to  be  found 
at  the  right  hand  of  every  influence  that  tended  to 
thwart  oppression.  It  upheld  the  effort  of  the  martyr 
of  Evesham,  whom  it  was  almost  ready  to  canonize ; 
in  the  person  of  the  humble  priest,  John  Ball,  it 
was  at  the  side  of  Wat  Tyler ;  in  Wickliffe  and  his 
followers,  who,  however  unorthodox,  were,  neverthe- 
less, cowled  and  tonsured  priests,  it  stimulated  poAver- 
fuUy  the  impulses  toward  freedom  which  throbbed  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  As  the  Baronage  had 
become  impotent,  so  the  Church  was  now  to  be 
stricken  down. 

Henry  VIII  divorced  England  from  Rome,  de- 
stroying, as  he  did  so,  the  monastic  system  and  appro- 
priating one-third  of  the  revenues  of  the  Effect  of  the 
Church.  He  constructed  a  new  nobility,  i^«f°''™^"o'»- 
composed  largely  of  new  men  whom  he  enriched 
from  the  spoils  of  the  Church,  who  naturally  were 
most  obsequious,  disposed  to  defend  to  the  last  the 
order  of  things  to  which  they  owed  place  and  pelf. 
He  obtained  a  lex  regia  to  make  him  supreme  law- 
giver; and  though  he  was  politic  as  to  interfering 
with  Parliament,  he  contrived  to  bring  it  about,  that 

1  Stubbs :  Constitutional  History,  III,  p.  592. 


96  AXGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

Parliament  did  little  more  than  register  liis  decrees. 
Church  and  State  were  now  under  one  over-lord.^ 
Through  the  Reformation,  the  Crown  had  won  a 
quite  new  and  most  independent  position.  In  the 
domain  of  the  Church,  the  Sovereign  as  Defender  of 
the  Faith,  replacing  the  Pope,  ruled  as  absolute  head, 
with  a  hierarchy  of  ecclesiastics  in  subordination  to 
him,  bishops,  canons,  and  priests.  In  secular  matters, 
his  authority,  according  to  the  constitution,  was  asso- 
ciated with  that  of  the  nation  represented  in  the  Par- 
liament, which  possessed  the  power  of  making  the 
laws.  The  House  of  Lords,  however,  were  mainly 
the  King's  creatures  ;  the  House  of  Commons,  through 
abuses  in  the  borough  representation  and  the  restric- 
tion of  the  franchise  in  the  shires,  had  quite  lost  its 
old  force.  Here  also  was  open  to  Henry  a  door  to 
absolutism  through  which  he  was  not  slow  to  pass. 
He  was  astute  as  he  was  audacious,  and  his  reign  was 
marked  by  certain  excellent  features  which  caused  it 
to  be  endured,  which  even  made  it  popular. 

Henry  should  be  treated  fairly  by  the  modern 
world.  He  can  hardly  be  cleared  from  the  charge  of 
being  brutal,  rapacious,  and  tyrannical.  He  broke 
the  hearts  and  cut  off  the  heads  of  noble  men  and 
lovable  women  who  had  served  and  esteemed  him 
faithfully.  In  the  matter  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  the  spirit  that  animated,  and  the  means 
that  were  employed,  were  worse  than  questionable. 
If  the  claim  of  the  Anglican  Cliurch,  that  it  was  born 
in  the  days  of  St.  Augustine,  be  giunted,  yet  at  its 
re-birth,  under  Henry  YIH,  it  can  scarcely  be  denied 

1  Gneist  is  here  for  the  most  part  followed :  Geschichte  und  heutige 
Gestalt  der  Aemter  in  England,  ji.  180,  etc. 


DEPRESSIOX  OF   POWER   OF   PARLIAMENT.     97 

that  some  unpleasant  figures  stood  about  the  cradle. 
The  redoubtable  Spenserian  giant,  Kirkrapine,  was 
a  valiant  defender  of  tender  Anglicanism.  What 
would  have  become  of  it  under  Bloody  Mary,  had  it 
not  been  stoutly  upheld  by  Henry's  new  nobles,  liv- 
ing on  lands  and  supported  by  rents  sequestrated 
from  the  monasteries,  lands  and  rents  sure  to  revert 
to  their  former  owners  had  Rome  once  recovered  her 
lost  ground  ?i  Again,  could  Henry  have  had  his 
way,  he  would  have  made  himself  a  complete  despot. 
Froude,  without  doubt,  has  estimated  him 
too  highly.    Still  he  was  patriotic,  in  a  cer-  character  of 

j_    ■  T,  .  .       1        Henry  Vni. 

tain  way  well-meaning,  most  attractively 
courageous,  and  sometimes  wise.  Anticipating  what 
is  called  in  our  day  enlightened  despotism,^  the  royal 
authority  prohibited  what  in  times  since  has  often 
become  a  crying  evil,  the  depopulation  of  the  land  by 
over-large  estates  and  the  changing  of  arable  into 
pasture ;  earnest  care  was  shown  for  education  and 
the  welfare  of  the  poor,  for  amusements  and  exercises 
in  arms,  for  guilds  and  trades-unions.  Less  success- 
ful, probably,  were  Henry's  efforts  to  regulate  the 
rate  of  wages  and  the  price  of  provisions,  and  his 
prohibition,  in  the  interest  of  the  poor,  of  inventions 
likely  to  displace  hand-labor.  His  intentions,  how- 
ever, were  here  the  best;  and  if  he  was  in  error,"  his 
were  errors  which  the  world  has  not  yet  outgrown. 
He  had  to  a  marked  degree  that  characteristic  of  a 
great  ruler,  the  power  of  choosing  instruments,  and 
he  caused  it  to  inure  fully  to  the  welfare  of  his  realm. 
His  officials,  high  and  low,  were  skilful,  and  to  each 

1  Green  :  Short  History,  pp.  350,  351.    Taswell-Langmead,  p.  435. 

2  Aufgeklarter  Despotismus. 


98  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

was  assigned,  witli  good  discrimination,  the  work 
which  he  could  do  best.  For  all  this,  it  is  certain 
that  a  grateful  echo  came  from  the  folk,  and  un- 
feigned admiration  from  clear-seeing  contemporaries 
of  a  higher  intelligence.  A  consequence  of  these 
traits  of  Henry's  rule  was  a  condition  of  internal 
quiet,  comfort,  and  prosperity  in  city,  borough,  and 
Good  points     shire.     Bluff  Harry,  in  spite  of  the  enor- 

18  reign,  j-j^^^jgg  Qf  "which  he  was  guilty,  got  very 
near  the  popular  heart.  His  Parliament  was  not  so 
much  subservient,  as  disposed  of  its  own  will  to 
acquiesce  in  what  the  King  imposed.  His  procedure, 
arbitrary,  but  in  great  part  well  intended  and  often 
beneficent,  had  in  it  so  much  of  good  that  the  disj)0- 
sition  grew  strong  among  men  to  overlook  the  bad. 
It  is  to  be  noticed,  as  the  special  constitutional 
change  of  Henry's  reign,  that  the  House  of  Commons 
acquired  a  preponderating  influence  over  the  House 
of  Lords.^  As  compared  with  the  authority  of  the 
King,  the  authority  of  Parliament  seemed  nearly 
superseded.  In  a  hundred  years,  the  political  pendu- 
lum had  swung  through  its  entire  arc  ;  for,  in  1406, 
under  Henry  IV,  with  his  doubtful  title,  the  power 
of  Parliament  had  seemed  on  the  point  of  supersed- 
ing that  of  the  King.^  A  dose  of  misrule  was  needed 
to  set  the  nation  right. 

Misrule  came  soon  after  Henry's  death,  with  his 

daughter  INIary.     A  Catholic  herself,  she  married  the 

prince    afterward    Philip    II,  soon    to    be 

rion  under       the  licad  aiid  front   of    Catholic    Europe. 

England,    however,    had   turned   its    back 

definitely    upon    the    ancient  faith,  and  when  Mary 

1  S.  R.  Gardiner ;  History  of  England,  I,  p.  7.  2  gee  p.  81. 


DEPRESSION   OF   POWER   OF   PARLIAMENT.     99 

entered  zealously  upon  a  reactionary  course,  it  be- 
came at  once  apparent  that  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
was  not  dead.  Once  more  the  prompt  men  of  Kent, 
descendants  of  the  ceorls  who  had  formed  wyatfsre- 
the  vanguard  of  Harold  at  Hastings,  and  ^®"'°°- 
of  the  poor,  plain  men  who  followed  Wat  Tyler  to 
Smithfield  and  Jack  Cade  to  London  Stone,  thronged 
after  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  out  of  their  tithings  as  far 
as  Temple  Bar,  in  formidable  rebellion.  Wyatt's 
rebellion  failed,  and  its  leader  was  beheaded,  but  it 
was  not  without  effect.  The  blood  of  many  martyrs 
became  prolific  seed,  as  well  for  a  better  state  as  a 
better  church.  Mary's  days  were  short;  but  when 
Elizabeth  acceded,  in  1558,  Protestant  though  she 
was,  she  found  in  the  people  a  temper  quite  different 
from  that  which  her  father  had  known.  Not  only 
Mary  Tudor  and  Philip,  but  Mary  Stuart,  also,  were 
promoters  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  The  struggle 
with  Catholicism  forced  Elizabeth  to  have  more  fre- 
quent recourse  to  Parliament ;  and  as  she  was  driven 
to  appeal  for  increasing  supplies,  the  tone  increasing 
of  the  Houses  rose  higher  and  higher.  f^men°/fnder 
The  Commons  were  not  now  satisfied  to  ^''^^'^®'^- 
restrict  or  help  the  Sovereign,  but  assumed  to  dictate 
a  policy.  Elizabeth  angrily  charged  them  with  act- 
ing like  rebels,  with  dealing  with  her  as  they  dared 
not  have  dealt  with  her  father.  To  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador she  said,  "  I  cannot  tell  what  these  devils 
want."  "  They  want  liberty,  Madame,"  said  the 
Spaniard ;  "  and  if  princes  do  not  look  to  themselves, 
and  work  together  to  put  such  people  down,  they 
will  find  before  long  what  all  this  is  coming  to." 
Parliament  was   now  fully  conscious  that  it  stood 


100  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

for  the  people,  as  appears  from  the  declaration  of  Sir 

Thomas  Smith:    "-Every  Englishman  is  intended  to 

be  there  present  either  in  person,  or  by 

Smith's  de-       procuration  and  attorney, — of  what   pre- 

scriptioa.  ^  ''  '  ^ 

eminence,  state,  dignity,  or  quality  soever 
he  be,  —  from  the  prince,  be  he  King  or  Queen,  to  the 
lowest  person  in  England;  and  the  consent  of  Par- 
liament is  taken  to  be  every  man's  consent."  ^  Eliz- 
abeth, however,  followed  as  closely  as  she  could  in 
the  footsteps  of  her  father.  By  natural  temper  the 
Tudors  were  more  arbitrary  than  the  Plantagenets ; 
and  had  a  standing  army  been  at  their  disposal  the 
utter  destruction  of  liberty  might  have  come.^  Eliz- 
Tact  of  the  abcth,  like  Henry,  though  easily  roused  to 
wrath  and  full  of  arrogance,  was  yet  sin- 
cerely patriotic,  possessed  tact  and  an  excellent  gift  in 
choosing  good  men  for  office,  to  whom  she  was  gen- 
erally faithful.  Cecil's  management  was  prudent, 
economical,  benevolent,  in  fact,  almost  motherly,^  in 
its  care  for  all  classes.  She  asked  for  very  few  sub- 
sidies, and  in  every  conflict  with  the  parliamentary 
right  to  legislate  and  tax,  though  she  might  storm 
and  swear,  she  at  last  yielded. 

The  main   laws    of   Elizabeth's   system  w^ere   the 
Act  of  Supremacy  and  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  laws 
in  the  worst  possible    odor   with   writers 
premacy  and     in  Sympathy  witli  the  struggle   for   free- 
dom,  and  whose  purport,   on  account   of 
the  important  part  they  have  in  the  history  of  the 

1  Quoted  by  Stubbs,  III,  p.  4().S ;   for  other  similar  assertions,  see 
Taswell-Langmead  ;  Eii(i;lisli  Coiistitutioual  History,  p.  484,  etc. 

2  Macaulay  :  History  of  England,  I,  p.  ol. 

3  "  Miitterlich,"  Gueist,  p.  213,  etc. 


DEPRESSION  OF  POWER  OF  PARLIAMEXT.     101 

succeeding  century,  must  be  carefully  pondered. 
Though  they  tended  strongly  toward  despotism,  their 
enactment  by  a  Parliament  in  which  the  sentiment 
of  liberty  was  well  alive,  is  quite  explicable.  By 
the  Act  of  Supremacy,  all  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical 
law-giving  was  declared  to  flow  out  from  the  Throne, 
and  an  oath  acknowledging  this  was  required  of 
every  subject.  By  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  Church 
ritual  and  discipline  throughout  were  also  subjected 
to  the  Throne.  Bishops  held  their  places  only 
during  the  Sovereign's  pleasure.  The  bitterness  of 
the  strife  with  Rome  made  this  absolutism  possible ; 
the  nation  so  dreaded  a  return  of  the  days  of  Mary, 
that  it  acquiesced  in  the  assumption,  by  Protestant 
hands  which  it  could  trust,  of  an  unlimited  spiritual 
sway.  But  the  arbitrariness  soon  began  to  encroach 
upon  the  secular  domain. 

The  instruments  for  making  the  increased  royal 
power  more  effective  were  the  Star  Chamber  and 
High  Commission  Courts.  An  innovation  g^^^  chamber 
into  the  constitution,  fitfully  apparent  dur-  commission 
ing  the  later  middle  ages,  but  becoming  ^o"''*- 
fixed  under  the  Tudors,  was  the  Privy  Council,  a 
pure  outcome  of  the  royal  will.  Under  Henry  VHI 
it  consisted  of  fourteen  state  and  court  officials, 
among  them  four  peers  and  two  bishops.  The  Court 
of  Star  Chamber,  so-called  from  its  place  of  meeting 
at  Westminster,  was  a  committee  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil appointed  to  deal  with  secular  affairs.  The  power 
of  this  court  tended  constantly  to  become  greater ; 
but  though  quite  unauthorized  by  the  nation's  voice 
and  responsible  to  no  one  but  the  Sovereign,  it  was  at 
fii^st  negligently  suffered.     In  Elizabeth's  day,  it  was 


102  AXGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

especially  fearful  to  evil-doers  high  in  station,  and 
therefore  for  a  long  time  popular.  Usually  it  was 
impartial,  disposed  to  protect  the  poor  and  oppressed, 
—  with  one  important  exception,  however,  when  the 
person  or  passions  of  the  Monarch  came  in  ques- 
tion. The  High  Commission  Court  was  a  committee 
charged  with  spiritual  cases.  Here,  too,  the  irre- 
sponsible power  tended  to  become  absolute.  The 
Court  differed  from  the  Romish  inquisition  only 
in  having  a  milder  code  of  punishments  and  a  less 
violent  method.  Its  arbitrariness  was  overlooked  in 
the  stress  of  the  conflict  with  the  dreaded  religious 
foe  outside,  against  which  it  was  often  an  effective 
engine.  These  two  committees,  unauthorized  by  the 
Parliament,  which  had  grown  weak  and  negligent, 
became  before  long  apparently  irresistible.  Publicity 
was  excluded  in  their  proceedings  ;  torture  was  some- 
times resorted  to.  How  the  Star  Chamber  and  High 
Commission  Courts  were  at  length  challenged  and 
finally  swept  away  must  be  told  hereafter. 

The  return  to  arbitrary  rule  under  the  Tudors  was 
not  complete,  then.  Why  it  proceeded  as  far  as  it 
Absolutism  ^^^  ^^6  can  casily  understand.  The  disor- 
mider^'he  Tu-  ^G^'s  of  tlic  fourteenth  century  had  wrecked 
''""■  the  ancient  Baronage  and  great!}-  injured 

the  people  at  large.  In  England  the  Reformation 
helped  the  roj-al  power.  The  sleep  of  the  nation  was 
promoted  by  the  geneial  popularity  of  Henry  VIII, 
of  Edward  VI,  and  of  Elizabetli,  which  was  marked, 
in  spite  of  their  faults  :  —  by  the  substantial  wisdom, 
moreover,  with  whicli  the}'  used  their  absolutism, 
steering  skilfully  the  sliip  of  state  in  tlie  most  diffi- 
cult seas.     Even  in  Elizabetli's  reign,  in  spite  of  the 


DEPRESSION  OF  POWER  OF  PARLIAMENT.     103 

danger  imminent  from  the  Star  Chamber  and  High 
Commission  Courts,  the  House  of  Commons  made 
gains.  Step  by  step  it  won  the  freedom  of  its  mem- 
bers from  arrest,  save  by  its  own  permission;  the 
privilege  of  punishing  and  driving  out  members  for 
crimes  committed  within  its  walls  ;  of  determining  all 
matters  relating  to  elections.  The  more  important 
claim  for  freedom  from  arrest  for  words  spoken  in 
debate  was  not  fully  gained,  Sir  Philip  Wentworth, 
its  most  prominent  champion,  seeing  in  consequence 
the  walls  of  a  dungeon.  Two  years  before  the 
Queen's  death,  the  bill  for  the  abolition  of  monopo- 
lies passed,  which  put  an  end  to  great  abuses,  the 
Queen  opposing  with  her  usual  temper,  but  yielding 
at  last  with  her  usual  tact. 

As  regards  the  power  of  the  people,  the  sixteenth 
century  was  throughout  Europe  a  time  of  misfortune. 
In  Spain,  Charles  V  and  Philip  H  over-  ns  triumph 
threw  the  cortes  ;  in  Germany,  the  desper-  upo7The  con- 
ate  struggle  of  the  peasants  for  a  better  *'"®°*" 
condition  proved  utterly  abortive  ;  in  France,  the 
authority  of  the  States-General  dwindled,  and  early  in 
the  seventeenth  century  the  long  intermission  of  their 
sessions  began  which  ended  only  with  the  Revolution 
in  1789.  Holland,  indeed,  fought  its  way  through 
to  a  measure  of  freedom  ;  and  in  England,  though 
Tudor  absolutism  seemed  to  have  superseded  all 
other  rule,  the  spirit  of  the  nation  was  not  dead. 
Before  long,  there  was  to  be  a  memorable  revival  of 
that  spirit,  but  things  were  destined  to  grow  worse 
before  they  grew  better. 

The  drift  toward  arbitrary  rule,  which  dated  from 
the  downfall   of   the  Lan.castrian   line,  and  so   had 


104  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

lasted  a  century  and  a  half,  went  far.     The  doctrine, 
however,  of  leffitimacy  and  hereditary  rifrht 

Growth  of  the  in  t       i       i      i 

doctrine  of  grcw  vcrj  gradually.  It  had  become 
strong  enough  even  in  the  first  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century  to  cause  men  to  feel  great  compunc- 
tion on  account  of  the  deposition  of  Richard  II,  and 
prepared  the  way,  as  we  have  seen,  for  the  accession 
of  Edward  IV,  with  no  title  to  the  throne  but  birth. 
During  the  Tudor  period  the  doctrine  became  slowly 
confirmed.  When  a  new  line  succeeds,  with  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  in  1603,  we  are  confronted  at 
once  with  statements  more  extreme  than  ever  before, 
and  of  evil  augury  to  Anglo-Saxon  freedom. 

A  book  called  Cowell's  "  Interpreter  "  declared  that 
the  King  is  above  law  by  his  absolute  power ;  that, . 
Cowell's  "In-  "notwithstanding  his  oath,  he  might  alter 
terpreter."  ^^^^  suspcud  any  particular  law  that  seeni- 
eth  hurtful  to  the  public  estate.  .  .  .  He  is  above  the 
law  by  his  absolute  power ;  and  though  for  the  better 
and  equal  course  in  making  laws  he  do  admit  the 
three  estates  into  Council,  yet  this  in  divers  learned 
men's  opinions  is  not  of  constraint,  but  of  his  own 
benignity,  or  by  reason  of  the  promise  made  upon 
oath  at  the  time  of  his  coronation."  ^  Convocation, 
the  assembled  body  of  the  clergy,  in  1606, 

Subserviency      .  c    ti  i       t  i 

ofc'oiivoca-      m  canons  kept  carefully  secret,  declared, 

tion  and  the 

University  of    faftcr  denouncino-  "  the  fatal  error  that  all 

Oxford.  \     .  .       .     ^.       . 

civil  power,  jurisdiction,  and  authority  were 
first  derived  from  the  people  and  disordered  multi- 
tude, or  either  is  originally  still  in  them,  or  else  is  de- 
duced by  their  consent  naturally  from  them  and  is  not 

1  Ransome  :  Rise  of  Constitutional  Government  in  England,  p.  121. 
Taswell-Laugmead,  p.  502. 


DEniESSIOX  OF  POWER  OF  FAULT AMEXT.     105 

God's  ordinance  originally  descending  from  liim  and 
depending  upon  liim,")  that  "  sovereignty  is  the  pre- 
rogative of  birthright,"  and  inculcated  in  the  schools 
and  everywhere  passive  obedience  to  the  Crown  as  a 
religious  obligation.  The  University  of  Oxford  de- 
clared before  James'  death  :  "  It  was  in  no  case  law- 
ful for  subjects  to  make  use  of  force  against  their 
princes,  or  to  appear  offensively  or  defensively  in  the 
field  against  them  "  ;  and  James  himself,  after  laying 
down  in  "  The  True  Law  of  a  Free  Mon-  c^img  of 
archy  "  the  principle  that  the  sovereign  was  '^^™**  ^' 
responsible  only  to  his  own  royal  will,  said :  "  As  it 
is  atheism  and  blasphemy  to  dispute  what  God  can 
do,  so  it  is  presumption  and  a  high  contempt  in  a 
subject  to  dispute  Avhat  a  King  can  do,  or  to  say  that 
a  King  cannot  do  this  and  that."  ^ 

The  Plantagenets  and  Tudors  were  rulers  full  of 
masterful  qualities.  The  Stuarts,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  quite  incompetent  to  the  situation  in  which 
they  found  themselves.  The  feeling  of  royal  obli- 
gation to  bring  to  pass  good  for  their  subjects, 
weighed  upon  them  but  slightly.  They  were  pre- 
pared to  sacrifice  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the 
country'  for  personal  ends.  They  were  never  in 
upright  relations  with  the  Church,  unfaithful  to 
oaths  which  they  had  sworn,  relentlessly  unforgiv- 
ing, possessed  of  no  talent  as  generals  or  politicians. 
The  Stuarts,  however,  evoked  a  degree  of  loyalty 
from  their  subjects,  even  from  the  wisest  and  noblest 
among  them,  such  as  the  Plantagenets  and  even  the 
Tudors  had  never  been  able  to  call  out.  This  was 
due  to  the  growth  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right. 

1  Green  :  History  of  the  English  People,  III,  p.  72. 


106  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

James  I,  his  son  and  grandsons,  were  without  doubt 
heirs  of  William  the  Conqueror,  indeed,  of  Saxon 
Egbert.  Whether  the  nation  elected  and  recognized 
them  or  not,  after  the  venerable  form,  was,  according 
to  the  new  theory,  a  matter  of  indifference  :  by  right 
of  birth  alone,  tliey  claimed,  and  a  gi-eat  part  of  their 
subjects  supported  them  in  the  claim,  that  they  were 
Kings  of  England.  Different  though  they  were  in 
character,  the  Stuarts  have  this  negative  trait  in 
common,  —  a  failure  to  understand  and  respect  the 
law  of  the  land.  Alongside  of  the  constitution  there 
had  arisen,  through  Tudor  encroachment,  a  scheme 
ready  fitted  to  the  hands  of  monarchs  thus  disposed. 
Parliament  was  the  proper  law-giving  body ;  but 
side  by  side  with  this  legislation  stood  now  a  system 
of  royal  ordinances,  proceeding  from  the  Sovereign 
alone.  Only  Parliament  could  legally  grant  money, 
following  the  ancient  right  recognized  by  Edward  I 
and  even  in  ]Magna  Cliarta,  that  no  man  should  be 
taxed  unless  he  were  represented  in  the  body  that 
imposed  the  tax.  Now,  however,  there  were  cus- 
toms, orders,  fines,  "  tonnage  and  poundage,"  "  coat 
and  conduct-money,"  "ship-money,"  etc.,  —  various 
ways  by  which  a  King  could  raise  money  without 
recourse  to  the  Houses.  Such  abuses  had  been 
allowed  to  creep  in  in  times  of  emergency  under 
the  specious  pretext  that  prompt  action  was  some- 
times thwarted,  if  only  constitutional  ways  could  be 
employed.  Precedents,  however,  had  been  estab- 
lished destined  to  make  great  trouble.  Most  threat- 
ening danger  of  all,  by  the  side  of  the  })roperly 
constituted  courts,  Avith  sheriffs,  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  juries,  were   fixed  the  courts  of  Star  Chamber 


DEPRESSION  OF  POWER  OF  PARLIAMENT.     107 

and  High  Commission,  with  inquisition,  torture,  and 
summary  procedure  of  every  kind.  This  uncon- 
stitutional machinery  for  ruling  the  Stuarts  pro- 
ceeded to  develop. 

Opposition,  however,  at  once  appeared  on  the  part 
of  the  nation.  "  The  slavish  Parliament  of  Henry 
VIII,  which  had  become  the  murmuring  opposition  of 
Parliament  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  mutinous  Parliament. 
Parliament  of  James  I,  became,  under  Charles  I, 
the  rebellious  Parliament."  ^  At  first,  feeble  and 
fitful,  the  opposition  gathered  force,  developing 
under  Charles  I  into  a  stern  battle  between  the 
King   and    that    conservative    element    of 

,  ,  ,  ,  •        -I      .  Charles  I  and 

the  people  who  were  determined  to  up-  the  Petition 
hold  the  ancient  ways.  The  King  was 
forced  by  the  Petition  of  Right,^  in  1628,  to  admit 
that  his  arbitrary  course  was  wrong.  It  was  a  pro- 
fession of  the  lips,  not  the  heart.  A  grant  of  sub- 
sidies having  taken  place  as  a  consequence  of  the 
redress  of  grievances,  Charles  dissolved  Parliament, 
not  intending  to  keep  his  word,  and  with  the  resolve 
never  to  summon  another  Parliament.  He  was 
"ashamed  that  his  cousins  of  France  and  Spain 
should  have  completed  a  work  which  he  had 
scarcely  begun."  He  commenced  in  March,  1629, 
a  system  of  personal  rule  quite  new  in  England, 
which  continued  for  eleven  yeai-s,  during  which 
time  the  people  were  not  summoned  to  Westminster 
by  their  delegates.  Never  before  since  Earl  Simon's 
time  had  the  voice  of  the  peoj^le  been  silenced  for 
such  an  interval ;    only  once  before  had  there  been 

1  Bagehot :  English  Constitution,  p.  281. 

2  For  the  full  text,  see  Appendix  B. 


108  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

an  interval  of  half  that  length.  His  two  main 
Laud  straf-  ^gcnts  and  advisers  were  Laud,  Arch- 
poifcy^of  '^^  bishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Thomas  Went- 
" Thorough."  ^yortii,  Earl  of  Strafford;  the  two  engines 
through  which  it  was  sought  to  bring  to  pass  the 
King's  will,  to  the  supersession  of  that  of  the  people, 
were,  for  spiritual  affairs,  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission, for  secular  affairs  that  of  Star  Cliamber. 

In  defiance  of  the  general  sentiment  of  England,  the 
reactionary  Laud  guided  the  Church,  as  tlic  nation 
felt,  perilously  near  to  Romanism.  Transubstantia- 
tion,  auricular  confession,  preferment  of  celibate 
priests,  restoration  of  image  worship,  adoration  of  the 
crucifix,  minute  attention  to  vestments,  genuflections, 
vigils,  pilgrimages,  —  these,  once  discarded,  were  now 
revived.  At  the  same  time  there  sat  at  the  King's 
right  hand  as  Queen,  the  Catholic  Henrietta  of 
France,  daughter  of  Henry  IV,  a  princess  inheriting 
her  father's  courage,  enterprise,  and  wit,  but  drawing 
from  her  mother,  Maria  de'  Medici,  an  Italian  dex- 
terity in  intrigue,  subservience  to  priestly  advisers, 
and  a  complete  devotion  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

In  secular  matters,  at  the  same  time,  the  monarch's 
hand  was  carried  ever  higher  and  liigher.  It  was  no 
longer  a  series  of  isolated,  arbitrary  acts  that  the  citi- 
zen beheld ;  but  Laud  and  Strafford,  pushing  ever  more 
strongly,  developed  the  policy  known  as  "  Thorough," 
—  a  consistent,  energetic  system  of  rule  going  directly 
against  popular  liberty,  even  to  the  last  bulwai'k,  the 
right  of  taxation.  In  all  points  but  one  the  govern- 
ment of  England  had  become  as  despotic  as  that  of 
France  and  Spain :  as  yet  the  King  had  at  his  com- 
mand no  standing  army.     Should  this  one  obstacle 


DEPKESSIOX  OF  POWER  OF  PARLIAMENT.     109 

block  the  path  ?  It  was  resolved  that  such  an  army 
might  be,  and  to  meet  the  cost,  recourse 
was  to  be  had  to  ship-money.  In  former 
times,  to  meet  foreign  dangers,  the  Kings  had  exacted 
of  the  Cinque  Ports  and  the  maritime  counties  the 
maintaining  of  ships  of  war.  Acting  on  these  pre- 
cedents, Charles  now  sought  to  levy  a  general  tax, 
nominally  ship-money,  but  the  yield  of  which  might 
be  applied  to  any  use.  With  this  word,  so  memor- 
able in  the  history  of  English-speaking  men,  let  us 
tvirn  aside  for  a  wdiile  from  the  tale  of  the  mad  race 
of  the  Stuarts  toward  absolutism.  Anglo-Saxon  free- 
dom was  on  the  point  of  perishing.  Precisely  now, 
in  the  nick  of  time,  became  operative  in  its  behalf  a 
force  from  America,  —  a  force  at  first  scarcely  trace- 
able, but  destined  in  time  to  grow  momentous. 


110  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  AMERICA. 

1607-1700. 

Horace  Walpole,  an  important  figure  in  Eng- 
land in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  news  of 
Burgoyne's  surrender  at  Saratoga  reached  England, 
wrote  to  the  Countess  of  Ossory,  December  11, 1777 : 
"  Well,  Madame,  as  I  told  Lord  Ossory  the  other 
day,  I  am  satisfied.  Old  England  is  safe,  that  is 
America,  —  whither  the  true  English  retired  under 
Charles  I."  ^  What  reason  is  there  in  such  a  state- 
ment as  this  ?  Horace  Walpole  asserts  that  America 
was  more  English  than  England  herself,  the  true 
English  having  retired  to  America  under  Charles  I. 

Just  at  the  hour   when  the   Tudoi-s  were  giving 

place  to  the  Stuarts,  two  events  took  place  within 

about  six  years  of  each  other,  at  the  time 

Charters  of  .  i  t     i  •!  i 

the  East  In-      resfardcd  as  having'  the  slightest  possible 

(lia  aud  Vir-  .         .^  r         ^■    ^      i  t 

piniaCompa-    signmcance,  of  which  however  the  conse- 

iiies.  '-' 

quences  have  been  of  transcendent  impor- 
tance in  the  liistory  of  the  world.  These  events 
were  the  granting  of  charters  to  two  commercial 
companies,  the  one  designing  to  engage  in  mercantile 
operations  in  the  East  Indies ;  the  other,  looking  for 
its  field  of  operations  to  the  coast  of  America.     The 

1  Walpole's  Letters. 


THE   SETTLEMENT  OF   AMERICA.  Ill 

first  of  these  charters,  granted  December  31,  1600, 
was  the  foundation  of  the  vast  Asiatic  empire  of 
England;  the  second,  granted  April  10,  1606,  the 
foundation  of  America.  With  those  chartere  began 
the  diffusion  of  the  English  language,  institutions, 
and  influence  beyond  the  narrow  bounds  of  the  little 
island  of  Britain  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth. 

In  1607,  a  colony  with  no  higher  purpose  than  the 
establishment  of  a  trading  enterprise  that  might  be 
lucrative,  fixed  itself  at  Jamestown  in  Vir-  settlement  of 
ginia.  In  the  heterogeneous  company  -^ameBtown. 
were  few  or  none  actuated  by  any  high  principle. 
A  considerable  part  of  those  who  came  in  the  first 
years  came  not  of  their  own  free-will,  but  were  de- 
ported from  England  as  idlers  or,  indeed,  convicts, 
of  whom  the  mother-country  might  conveniently  in 
this  way  rid  herself.  In  the  case  of  the  better  class 
of  settlers,  who  came  of  their  own  free-will,  the 
motive  for  emigration  was  certainly  not  discontent 
with  the  political  or  religious  conditions  at  home. 
They  desired  simply  to  make  money,  and  saw  in  the 
fur  trade,  the  mines,  the  agriculture,  which  they 
hoped  to  be  able  to  develop  in  the  new  world,  a 
better  opportunity  for  gain  than  was  offered  to  them 
elsewhere.  With  no  grievance  as  to  either  Church 
or  State,  conforming  without  a  murmur  to  what  both 
demanded,  they  gave  their  energies  to  carrying  out 
schemes  of  material  profit. 

Far  more  interesting  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  was  the  body  of  settlers, 
who,   under    the    new   charter,    ijresently 

P        /  1         Of  Plymouth. 

came  to  occupy  the  country  farther  to  the 
north. 


112  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

' '  Give  praise  to  others,  early  come  or  late, 
For  love  and  labor  on  our  ship  of  state. 
But  this  must  stand  above  all  fame  and  zeal : 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  laid  the  ribs  and  keel. 
On  their  strong  lines  -we  base  our  social  health  — 
The  man  —  the  home  —  the  town  — the  Commonwealth."  i 

At  the  time  when  the  Jamestown  settlers  were 
gaining  their  foothold,  a  group  of  men  and  women 
belonging  to  a  sect  known  as  Separatists,  dwelling  in 
Lincolnshire,  in  the  east  of  England,  were  under- 
going persecution.  Their  station  in  life  was  that  of 
yeomen,  the  lower  middle  class,  below  the  gentry, 
but  still  free-holders,  —  the  class  to  which  belonged 
the  tradesmen  of  the  towns  and  the  small  farmers 
who  then  abounded  throughout  the  country.  To 
the  Separatists  a  faith  simpler  and  less  formal  than 
the  prevailing  Anglicanism  was  congenial,  and  in 
the  effort  to  cherish  such  a  faith  they  found  the 
hand  of  the  established  Church  heavy  upon  them. 
Through  peril  and  hardship  a  small  band  of  them 
made  their  way  to  Holland,  where,  for  a  decade, 
under  the  ministrations  of  John  Robinson,  one  of 
the  memorable  representatives  of  the  spirit  of  free 
thought,  a  spirit  which  at  this  time  was  beginning  to 
stir  in  the  world,  they  worshipped  God  not  as  the 
bishops  prescribed,  but  as  their  own  consciences  dic- 
tated. But  Holland  was  not  to  their  mind,  and  in 
1620  came,  at  Delfthaven,  the  famous  embarkation, 
of  which  tlie  result  was  the  establishment  of  New 
England. 

As  regards  the  establishment  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth,  the  thing  of  interest  to  notice  in  connec- 

1  J.  Boyle  O'Reilly  :  Poem  at  Plymouth,  August  1,  1889. 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  113 

tion  with  tlie  present  subject  is  that  politically  they 
did  not  reproduce  the  state  of  thingfs  they 

^  O  J     Revival  in 

had  left  behind  :  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  New  England 

of  the  ancient 

they  invent  something  new.      In  the  his-  An^gio-saxon 
tory  of  the  English-speaking  race,  the  wise 
reformers   have   been  the  true   conservatives.     True 
conservatives  were  the  Pilgrim  Fathers ;    for  in  the 
society  which  they  set  up,  they  went  back  to  old  ways 
which  in  England  itself  had  been  largely  forsaken. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  our  study  of  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
stitutions, we  were  much  concerned  with  the  tun- 
scipe,  the  fenced  village  within  which  submergence 
dwelt  the  community  of  ceorls,  —  the  J,"  the  popular 
house  of  the  setheling  rising  among  the  ™°°'^- 
humbler  homesteads,  the  huts  of  laets  and  theows  ad- 
jacent, the  place  for  the  moot  in  the  centre,  beyond 
the  paling  or  mound  the  allotments  of  plough-land 
and  grass-land,  and  encircling  all,  the  common  waste. 
The  tun-scipe  was  the  unit  of  political  organization ; 
an  aggregation  of  them  formed  the  hundred  or  wapen- 
take ;  an  aggregation  of  hundreds  in  turn  formed  the 
shire ;  the  shires  combined  at  last  into  the  kingdom. 
As  we  come  down  the  centuries,  the  name  township 
gradually  retires,  the  term  parish  taking  its  place  ; 
a  term  denoting  the  same  thing,  but  bringing  into 
view  the  ecclesiastical  side  of  the  organization,  which, 
through  the  zeal  of  the  mediaeval  churchmen,  played 
a  large  part  in  the  lives  of  men.^  As  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century  the  vestrjMueeting  becomes  appar- 
ent, —  a  tun-moot  for  church  purposes,  in  which  even 
villeins  can  join.     Matters  secular  soon  come  to  be 

1  Howard  :  Introduction  to  Local  Coustitutional  History  of  the  United 
States,  I,  p.  31,  etc. 


114  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

discussed  in  the  vestry-meetings;  the  lay  attributes 
predominate  more  and  more.  When  at  last  the 
Stuart  day  is  reached,  the  parish  with  its  vestry  has 
largely  superseded  the  township  with  its  moot.  The 
vestry-meeting  provides  fully  for  matters  temporal  as 
well  as  spiritual,  and  it  is,  moreover,  to  be  noticed  that 
it  is  often  beginning  to  lose  its  original  democratic 
character.  We  have  seen  the  boroughs  fall  into  the 
hands  of  close  corporations ;  ^  in  a  similar  way  the 
country  parishes  begin  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  select 
vestries,  small  knots  of  men  forming  close  corpora- 
tions, who  establish  oligarchies  in  place  of  the  rule 
of  the  people,  at  the  very  fountain-head. 

While  the  township  was  thus  changing,  the  shire, 
too,  was  becoming  greatly  modified.  As  far  back  as 
the  reign  of  Edward  III  certain  statutes  prescribe 
"  that  there  shall  be  good  and  lawful  men  in  every 
county  to  keep  the  peace."  A  few  years  later, 
"what  sort  of  persons  shall  be  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  what  authority  they  shall  have,"  are  set  down, 
the  decree  enacting  that  there  "  shall  be  one  lord, 
and  with  him  three  or  four  of  the  most  worthy  in  the 
county,  with  some  learned  in  the  law."  Here  in 
shadowy  outline  can  be  made  out  the  incipient  insti- 
tution, the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  which  in  the 
Stuart  time,  three  liundred  years  later,  had  taken 
from  the  shire-moot  all  judicial  and  administrative 
character,  leaving  to  it  only  its  elective  functions. 
The  lord-lieutenant  of  the  county,  who  appears  in 
the  Tudor  day  as  head  of  the  military  organization, 
was  an  appointee  of  the  Crown ;  so,  too,  the  justices 
of  the  Quarter  Sessions,  who,  four  times  a  year,  held 

1  See  p.  66. 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  115 

courts  for  criminal  jurisdiction,  and  provided  also  for 
the  management  of  roads,  of  the  poor,  and  for  the 
assessing  and  collecting  of  taxes ;  such,  moreover, 
the  ancient  sheriff  had  become.  The  shire-moot  sur- 
vived only  as  the  occasion  when  the  free-holders, 
assembling,  voted  for  coroner^  an  official  of  higher 
dignity  than  at  present ;  for  verderer,  a  functionary 
charged  with  the  management  of  the  forests;  and, 
most  important  of  all,  for  the  knight-of-the-shire,  who 
should  speak  for  them  in  Parliament.  This  was  the 
local  self-government  which  the  first  Englisli  settlers 
in  America  had  known.  This,  however,  the  New 
Englanders  did  not  reproduce. 

The  little  company  of  poor  men  had  signed  the 
compact  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Mayflower,"  to  be  mutu- 
ally bound  by  laws  which  all  were  to  have  Methods  of 
a  voice  in  framing,  had  explored  for  a  lit-  menUnNe'w' 
tie ;  then,  after  setting  foot  on  the  lonely  ^^g'^^"^- 
boulder  which  now  seems  almost  likely  to  be  worn 
away  by  the  reverent  trampling  of  the  multitudes 
who  visit  it,  had  built  their  camp-fires  at  last  where 
sweet  water  gushed  freely  from  the  bosom  of  a  hill.^ 
They  felt  forgotten  by  the  world.  Doing  what  was 
easiest  to  be  done,  following  traditions  which,  so  to 
speak,  had  come  do^vn  in  their  blood,  they  set  apart 
certain  land  to  be  held  in  common,  a  homestead  for 
each  man,  built  a  fort  of  timber  on  the  hill  close  by, 
ran  their  palisade  where  danger  seemed  most  to 
threaten,  established  cei'tain  simple  rules,  and,  lo, 
when  all  was  done,  the  little  settlement  was  through- 

1  Johns  Hopkins  Historical  and  Political  Studies,  2d  Series,  IV.  The 
writer  adapts  here  a  page  or  two  from  a  previous  monograph  of  his 
own. 


116  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

out,  as  to  internal  constitution  and  external  features, 
essentially  the  same  as  an  Anglo-Saxon  "tun"  or 
"  burh,"  such  as  a  boat-load  of  the  followers  of  Hen- 
gist  or  Cerdic  might  have  set  up,  as  they  coasted 
searching  for  a  home  along  the  isle  of  Thanet,  —  or 
further  back  still,  the  same  essentially  as  a  village  of 
the  Weser  shore  or  the  Odenwald,  set  up  in  the 
primeval  heathen  days.^  To  the  settlement,  they 
aj^plied  the  old  name  of  tun  or  town. 

When,  ten  years  later,  Winthrop  with  his  Puritan 
followers  came  to  settle  Boston,  they  were  richer, 
more  numerous,  better  educated,  but  it  was  conven- 
ient for  them,  too,  to  go  back  to  the  old  forms.  Ship 
followed  ship,  almost  unnoticed  in  the  old  world, 
where  the  minds  of  men  were  absorbed  in  the  strug- 
gle between  King  and  Parliament,  whicli  presently 
burst  into  war.  Twenty-one  thousand,  at  length, 
sailing  toward  the  beckoning  finger  of  Cape  Cod,  had 
found  a  refuge  in  Massachusetts  Bay.  They  spread 
from  the  coast  into  the  interior,  through  blazed  paths 
of  the  forest,  led  by  Indian  guides  to  rich  intervales  in 
distant  valleys,  —  clustering  about  water-falls  where 
fish  abounded  and  where  the  grain  could  be  ground, 
or  in  spots  where  there  seemed  a  chance  for  mining. 
Everywhere  appeared  the  house-lots  or  village-mark  ; 
the  plough-land,  the  meadow,  the  pasture  tempoi'arily 
allotted  ;  and  the  undivided  common  waste.^  What  de- 
termined the  size  of  the  towns  was  always  convenience 
in  getting  to  the  Sunday  meeting ;  for  to  church  all 

1  Edward  A.  Freeman:  Introduction  to  American  Institutional  His- 
tory, p.  15.  Herbert  B.  Adams  :  Germanic  Origin  of  Xew  England 
Towns.  Johns  Hopkins  Historical  and  Political  Studies,  1st  Series, 
I,  II. 

2  Howard  :  Local  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  53. 


THE   SETTLEMEXT   OF   AMERICA.  117 

were  obliged  to  go  under  penalty  of  fine  or  severe  pun- 
ishment. Left  to  themselves,  each  group  of  inhabi- 
tants thus  bound  together  about  the  meeting-house, 
near  wliich  also  was  generally  placed  the  school,  con- 
trived for  the  regulation  of  affairs  which  interested  all 
alike  the  forms  which  came  most  handy,  and  these 
were  the  folk-moot  with  its  accompaniments.  The  town- 
the  local  self-government  of  Anglo-Saxon  ™^^""s- 
days,  revived  with  a  faithfulness  of  which  the  colonists 
themselves  were  not  at  all  conscious.  For  twenty 
years  Plymouth  had  a  folk-moot  for  its  entire  jurisdic- 
tion, open  to  every  freeman.  The  restriction  which  in 
the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  admitted  only  church- 
members  to  the  franchise,  was  at  last  abrogated,  so 
that  there,  too,  every  reputable  citizen  had  a  right 
to  vote.  To  cast  a  glance  ahead,  in  a  century  and  a 
half,  jMassachusetts,  absorbing  Plymouth  and  holding 
possession  of  Maine,  contained  more  than  two  hun- 
dred towns.  In  Xew  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Connecticut,  the  23opulation  was  similarly  apportioned 
into  townships,  whose  constitution  is  thus  described 
by  a  writer  of  the  time  :  "  Every  town  is  an  incorpo- 
rated republic.  The  selectmen  by  their  own  author- 
ity, or  upon  the  application  of  a  certain  number  of 
townsmen,  issue  a  warrant  for  the  calling  of  a  town- 
meeting.  The  warrant  mentions  the  business  to  be 
engaged  in,  and  no  other  can  be  legally  executed. 
The  inhabitants  are  warned  to  attend ;  and  they  that 
are  present,  though  not  a  quarter  or  tenth  of  the 
whole,  have  a  right  to  proceed.  They  choose  a  presi- 
dent by  the  name  of  ]Moderator,  who  regulates  the 
proceedings  of  the  meeting.  Each  individual  has  an 
equal  liberty  of  delivering  his  opinion,  and  is  not 


118  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

liable  to  be  silenced  or  browbeaten  by  a  richer  or 
greater  townsman  than  himself.  Every  freeman  or 
free-holder  gives  his  vote  or  not,  and  for  or  against, 
as  he  pleases  ;  and  each  vote  weighs  equally,  whether 
that  of  the  highest  or  lowest  inhabitant.  .  .  .  All 
the  New  England  towns  are  on  the  same  plan  in  gen- 
eral." 1  "A  New  England  town-meeting,"  says  Free- 
man, "  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  folk-moot."  ^ 

Of  the  forms  of  organization  above  the  town,  the 
hundred  was  never  reproduced  in  New  England  at 
all,  while  the  shire  or  county,  though  reproduced, 
never  acquired  the  importance  which  it  had  in  the 
mother-land.  At  first  the  towns  sufficed ;  the  coun- 
ties did  not  appear  in  Massachusetts  Bay  until  1643, 
while  elsewhere  there  was  still  longer  delay,  Rhode 
Island  first  adopting  shires  in  1703.  They  had  little 
significance,  except  as  judicial  districts,  the  courts 
being  modelled  after  the  English  Quarter  Sessions. 
The  venerable  shire-moot,  still  persisting  in  England 
as  the  centre  of  political  life,  the  assembly  at  which 
were  elected  the  representative  knights  and  certain 
local  officials,  though  most  of  its  judicial  and  adminis- 
trative functions  had  long  been  lost,  never  appeared 
in  New  England. 

What  was  the  colirse  of  development  in  Virginia, 
the  great  colony  which  presently  grew  out  of  the 
Reproduction  little  Settlement  at  Jamestown,  becoming 
coiuemp"omry  ^^^  rejoresentative  colony  of  the  South  as 
England.         Massachusetts    soon   became    that   of   the 

1  Gordon:  History  of  Independence  of  United  States,  I,  p.  2G2. 

2  American  Institutional  History,  Johns  Hopkins  Historical  and  Polit- 
ical Series,  1, 1,  p.  16. 


THE   SETTLEMENT  OF  AMERICA.  119 

North?  As  Virginia  took  shape,  her  institutions 
were  no  less  thoroughly  English  than  those  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  yet  they  were  not  the  same  as  those  of 
Massachusetts.  While  in  the  case  of  New  England 
the  settlers  reverted  to  a  state  of  things  so  primitive, 
Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  reproduced  the  forms 
which  actually  existed  at  home  contemporaneously 
with  her  settlement.^     First,  we   find   as 

.--.  The  pariah. 

early  as  Ibol  the  name  parish;  the  earlier 
"  plantations  "  had  no  doubt  been  de  facto  parishes, 
and  afterward  the  counties  were  regularly  subdivided 
into  them.  Here,  as  at  home,  the  vestry  had  chief 
authority,  composed  usually  of  twelve  "  of  the  most 
sufficient  and  selected  men,"  who  soon  became,  after 
the  home  precedent,  a  close  corporation  for  the  dis- 
charge of  functions  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil.  Here 
the  clergyman  presided  as  first  in  dignity  (another  Eng- 
lish practice),  whose  salary  was  yearly  sixteen  thou- 
sand pounds  of  tobacco.  On  the  whole,  the  Virginia 
vestries,  though  aristocratic  in  form,  were  fairly  wise 
and  moderate,  and  usually  sustained  by  the  people, 
though  the  people  had  no  voice  in  choosing  them.  So 
great  a  democrat  as  Jefferson  testifies  in  their  favor : 
in  early  daj'S  when  the  royal  governor  tried  to  force 
upon  the  parishes  his  own  nominees,  an  active  resist- 
ance was  made,  and  in  the  bickering  back  and  forth 
the  way  was  prepared  for  the  events  of  1776.^ 

But  though  the  parish  performed  many  important 
functions,  it  was  early  overshadowed  by 

1  •   ^  ^  11-1  "^^^  county. 

the  county,  which  possessed  all  the  higher 

1  E.  A.  Freeman :   American  Institutional  History,  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies,  1st  Series,  1,  p.  17. 

2  Howard  :  Local  Constitutional  Government  of  the  United  States,  I, 
p.  118,  etc. 


120  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

offices  of  local  self-government  and  was  as  well  the 
unit  of  representation  and  administration.  This,  too, 
was  a  reproduction  of  a  contemporary  English  organi- 
zation. Though  the  firet  settlers  had  adopted  the 
village  community,  economic  causes  brought  it  about 
that  the  later  organization  was  soon  adopted;  for 
everything  tended  to  plantation  rather  than  town  life. 
As  early  as  1634,  eight  shires  appear,  "  governed  as 
the  shires  in  England,"  which  become  seventy-four  by 
the  time  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  Courts 
of   Quarter   Sessions   appear   duly   in   all 

The  Court  of  1  r  J 

Quarter  ses-  tlicsc,  composcd  of  justiccs  appointed  by 
the  royal  governor.  The  board  of  justices 
in  each  shire  has  the  privilege  of  nominating  to  the 
governor  the  appointees ;  and  it  therefore  results  that 
the  county  court,  like  the  parish  vestry,  becomes  a 
close  corporation  composed  of  the  leading  gentry .^ 
The  justices  assume  all  functions,  judicial  and  admin- 
istrative. The  only  approach  to  a  democratic  feature 
in  the  aristocratic  polity  is  the  manner  of  electing  the 
burgesses,  the  members  who  sit  in  the  colonial  assem- 
bly, and  who  constitute  with  a  royal  council  nomi- 
nated by  the  Crown,  and  a  Crown-appointed  governor 
possessed  of  a  veto  power,  the  central  government. 
As  the  colony  becomes  established,  two  burgesses  sit 
for  each  county,  and  these  are  chosen  by  such  free- 
holders as  have  an  estate  for  life  in  one  hundred  acres 
of  uninhabited  land,  or  in  twenty-five  acres  with  a 
house  on  it,  or  in  a  house  or  lot  in  some  town.  With 
so  high  a  property  qualification,  very  many  were 
Scene  at  a  disfranchised,  but  we  may  discern  here  a 
county  court,    fg^^^^j.g  jj-^  gome   measurc   popular.      The 

1  Howard:  Local  Constitutional  Governmeut  of  the  U.  S.,  I,  p.  388,  etc. 


THE   SETTLEMJ:XT   of   AMERICA.  121 

elections  took  place  in  presence  of  the  sheriff  (who 
was  either  himself  a  justice  or  an  appointee  of  the 
justices),  at  the  county  court,  the  people  coming 
together  in  shire-moot,  for  the  purpose,  after  the 
fashion  not  yet  obsolete  in  England.  Crippled 
though  the  power  of  the  people  was,  still  the  Vir- 
ginian court-day  in  the  old  time  must  have  presented 
a  democratic  aspect.  It  was  a  holiday  for  the  whole 
country-side,  especially  in  the  fall  and  spring.  The 
people  came  generally  on  horseback,  on  foot,  in 
wagons.  In  the  .great  assembly  on  the  court-house 
green,  hunters,  small  farmers,  great  proprietors,  grin- 
ning negroes,  mingled  freely  together.  Old  debts 
were  settled,  new  debts  contracted;  the  auctioneer 
and  the  peddler  plied  busily  their  vocations.  If  an 
election  was  pending,  every  convenient  stump  pedes- 
talled  its  orator.  In  a  measure,  the  county  court  took 
the  place  of  the  town-meeting :  like  the  town-meeting 
it  exercised  a  powerful  levelling  influence,  and  was 
in  a  way,  by  no  means  ineffective,  a  training-school 
for  the  republican  life  which  lay  in  the  future.^ 

That  New  England  and  Virginia  should  have 
adopted  institutions  so  widely  different  is  quite  expli- 
cable.    New  England,  while  containing  a  Reasons  for 

p  ».,.  p  Jill!  •  J     the  contrast 

tew  lamilies  oi  gentle  blood,  was  m  vast  between  xew 
majority  settled  by  yeomen,  the  lower  mid-  vh|rnia.''The 
die  class,  to  which  belonged  in  Old  England  tiers  of  the 
the  traders  and  small  farmers.  It  was  in 
this  class  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  strain  ran  purest,  with 
least  of  Norman  intermixture.  To  such  men,  primi- 
tive ways  were  most  likely  to  be  congenial ;  to  such 
1  Hannis  Taylor :  Origin  and  Growth  of  English  Constitution,  I,  39, 


122  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

men,  also,  primitive  ways  were  most  likely  to  be 
familiar.  The  public  life,  which  these  humble  people 
knew  for  the  most  part,  was  that  of  the  small  neigh- 
borhoods where  the  tun-moot  was  not  as  yet  quite 
dead ;  for  it  was  precisely  here  that  ancient  usages 
clung  most  tenaciously.  "  The  smaller  and  more 
decidedly  differentiated  the  institution,  the  less  the 
liability  to  change,  modification,  or  substitution."  ^ 
When  left  to  themselves,  it  was  natural  that,  follow- 
ing tendencies  which  had  come  down  in  their  blood, 
they  should  adopt  and  at  the  same  time  strengthen 
what  remained  of  the  ancient  features  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom.  It  was  presently  found  that  what 
nature  suggested  in  the  way  of  forms  of  polity  was 
admirably  fitted  for  the  life  into  which  the  circum- 
stances of  their  new  home  forced  the  colonists.  Hence, 
it  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  resuscitated  govern- 
ment by  popular  moot  came  soon  to  manifest  the 
greatest  vigor. 

In  Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  the  yeoman  element 

was  small.     At  the  top  of  society  Avas  an  aristocracy 

of   rich  ]:)roprietors  holding:  larg^e  estates. 

The  great  .  ^       ^  &  &  ' 

planters  of       allied  throuQ'h  similarity  of  condition,  and 

Virginia.  =•  •'  ' 

through  ties  of  blood  also,  with  the  landed 
gentry  of  the  mother-country.  The  law  of  primo- 
geniture being  rigidl}'  maintained,  each  great  estate, 
consisting  often  of  thousands  of  acres,  descended 
in  each  generation  to  the  eldest  son,  his  brothers 
and  sisters  being  slightly  portioned,  if  at  all.  There 
were,  indeed,  small  farmers,  a  class  springing  in 
part  from  unportioned  younger  sons,  in  part  from 
later  immigrants,  who  were  at  a  disadvantage  as  to 

1  Fhelan  :  History  of  Tennessee,  p.  203. 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  123 

getting  hold  of  the  soil :  this  class,  however,  was 
unimportant  as  compared  with  the  landed  magnates, 
with  whom  lay  all  social  prestige  and,  for  the  most 
part,  political  power.  The  particular  form  into 
which  society  in  Virginia  arranged  itself,  was  much 
affected  by  the  special  industry  to  which  The  slaves, 
the  colony  became  almost  exclusively  devoted,  the 
raising  of  tobacco.  On  the  great  estates  the  labori- 
ous process  of  producing  the  invariable  crop  could  be 
most  conveniently  left  to  the  hands  of  negroes.  Every- 
thing favored  the  development  of  slavery,  and  slaves 
soon  came  to  make  up  nearly  half  of  the  population. 
In  a  condition  not  very  different  from  that  of  the 
slaves  were  the  indentured  wliite  servants.  These 
were  penniless  immigrants,  sometimes  English  con- 
victs or  paupers,  shipped  to  the  New  World  rj,^^ 
and  bound  out  for  a  term  of  years  by  the  ^^''«*- 
government;  sometimes  people  of  more  respectable 
antecedents,  who  in  return  for  their  passage-money 
freely  gave  themselves  into  practical  serfdom.  In 
these  circumstances,  labor  necessarily  fell  Disrepute  of 
into  disrepute :  a  class  of  poor  whites  arose,  '''''°''' 
descendants  of  those  so  unfortunately  placed  as  to  be 
unable  to  obtain  land  or  of  those  who  lacked  energy 
to  do  so,  who  squatted  on  the  plantations  in  out-of- 
the-way  swamps  or  woods,  pushed  into  the  wilderness 
as  hunters  and  trappers,  or  tramped  as  roving  vaga- 
bonds from  estate  to  estate.  Such  town-life  as  that 
of  New  England  would,  of  course,  in  a  society  so  sit- 
uated, be  impossible.  The  parish  would  necessarily 
be  a  feeble  substitute  for  it.  The  inhabitants  were 
scattered  throughout  the  vast  counties  with  no  rally- 
ing-points  but  the  manor-house  of  the  planters.     Of 


124  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

manufacturing  of  any  kind  there  was  no  trace,  and 
the  class  of  honorable  merchants  was  almost  unknown. 
It  was  indispensable  to  each  great  plantation  that  it 
should  be  accessible  from  the  sea,  a  condition  easily 
supplied  through  the  magnificent  streams  which  af- 
forded paths  everywhere  into  the  interior  from  the 
Chesapeake.  Each  planter  had  his  own  wharf  and 
warehouse,  to  which  his  negroes  brought  yearly  at 
harvest  the  great  tobacco-yield,  while  English  or 
Yankee  ships,  freighted  with  foreign  manufactures 
to  be  given  in  exchange,  lay  ready  to  receive  it. 

The  typical  Virginian,  as  the  colony  developed, 
was  devoted  to  the  English  King  and  Church.  If  lie 
possessed  overweening  family  pride,  extravagance, 
and  contempt  for  work,  he  had  also  the  splendid 
Virtues  of  the  vlrtucs  of   a  cavalicr  class,  —  generosity, 

Virginia  so-  i    i  •      t  t-i  i 

ciety.  bravery,  and  hospitality.     Even  the  poor 

whites,  forlorn  as  they  were  for  all  purposes  of 
peaceful,  well-ordered  society,  possessed  qualities 
which  fitted  them  admirably  to  be  frontiersmen  and 
soldiers.  jNIany  a  planter  could  claim  descent  from 
historic  stock ;  and  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  tlic 
old  Lord  Fairfax,  who  established  for  himself  a  broad 
sylvan  domain  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and 
lived  there  like  the  banished  Duke  of  "As  You  Like 
It,"  in  the  "  Forest  of  Arden,"  the  blood  of  the  Vir- 
ginians was  of  the  noblest. 

Since,  then,  the  isolation  of  the  great  estates  at  the 
South  made  it  out  of  tlie  question  for  the  men  to 
come  together  as  in  the  compact  communities  of  the 
North,  and  since,  moreover,  the  more  heterogeneous 
character  of  society  in  the  former  case  interfered 
with  the  disposition  to  come  together,  —  instead  of  a 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  125 

State  made  up  of  small  democratic  communities,  within 
each  one  of  which  the  men,  gathered  in  town-meeting, 
governed  themselves,  a  State  came  to  pass,  the  people 
of  which  had  little  opportunity  or  desire  for  the  gen- 
eral discussion  of  public  measures.  Care  for  political 
matters  was,  in  the  mass  of  men,  very  slight,  from 
the  fact  that  a  class  small  in  number  almost  monopo- 
lized property  and  power.  The  territorial  magnates 
were  all-in-all.     In  the  House  of  Burgesses  spirit  of  the 

House  of 

at  Williamsburg,  the  great  planters  came  Burgesses, 
together,  and  few  besides.  Among  them,  indeed, 
political  interest  was  keen  enough.  Each  had  a  great 
stake  in  the  country ;  each  was  accustomed  to  power 
and  fond  of  wielding  it.  In  this  aristocratic  legisla- 
ture the  energy  was  marked,  and  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom very  manifest.  The  royal  governors  found  the 
body  often  intractable  ;  constant  bickering  prevailed 
between  them  and  the  assembly,  through  which  the 
latter  learned  the  habit  of  calling  into  question  the 
authority  of  the  King,  and  also  came  to  love  an  at- 
mosphere of  strife. 

There  was  not  only  no  proper  popular  moot  in  Vir- 
ginia, but  in  the  colonies  of  the  South  and  Southwest 
generally,  as  they  became  gradually  established,  it  did 
not  appear.  As  a  definite  polity  shaped  itself,  there 
were  in  the  case  of  each  one  peculiarities  of  constitu- 
tion, but  into  these  we  do  not  need  to  enter.  In  South 
Carolina,  the  parish  possessed  a  somewhat  vigorous 
life ;  in  JNIaryland,  under  the  feudal  -sway  condition  of 
of  the  proprietary  government  of  Lord  Bal-  fina  and  Mary- 
timore,  the  manners  of  mediteval  times  to  ^'*°''' 
some  extent  appeared :  in  general,  however,  Virginia 
was  the  type  of  all. 


12«  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

If  we  glance  at  the  middle  colonies,  in  New  York 
the  Dutch  were  long  enough  in  possession  to  stamp 
Feudalism  in  ^^po^  ^hc  Settlement  an  impress  not  at  all 
anTpInnsyi-  dcmocratic.  Aloug  the  Hudson  the  pa- 
vania.  troous,   ou   tlicir   estates   fronting   sixteen 

miles  on  the  river  and  running  back  indefinitely,  had 
set  up  a  feudalism  as  marked  as  that  of  the  seigneuries 
which  the  French  at  the  same  time  established  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  On  Long  Island  and  the  shore  near 
by,  there  were  self-governing  towns  quite  similar  to  the 
Connecticut  communities  close  at  hand.^  After  the 
English  occupation  of  the  colony  in  1664,  an  organi- 
zation of  counties  with  subdivisions  of  townships 
gradually  makes  its  way,  which,  in  our  own  century, 
lias  come  to  play  an  important  part.  Here,  though 
the  town-life  is  faintly  marked,  possessing  with  less 
distinctness  than  in  New  England  the  moot,  yet  cer- 
tain functionaries  exist,  freely  elected  by  the  people, 
the  most  important  of  whom  is  the  siqjervisor ;  the 
town  supervisors,  forming  in  each  shire  a  board  sit- 
ting together  at  stated  times,  provide  for  the  most 
part  for  local  self-government.  This  is  the  germ  of 
the  Township-county  system,  which,  as  will  hereafter 
be  seen,  has  been  very  important  in  the  settlement 
of  the  West.2  In  Pennsylvania,  though  the  great 
proprietor,  Penn,  was  practically  a  viceroy  beneath 
an  English  suzerainty,  exercising  over  a  population 
containing  many  elements  besides  English,  a  rule 
which  was  far  from  favorable  to  democracy,  yet 
at  one   point  occurred  an  interesting   development. 

1  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  1st  Series,  VI,  VII,  and  XII. 
Howard  :  Lxjcal  Constitutional  Government  of  tlie  United  States,  I,  114, 
etc.  2  Howard,  I,  p.  102,  etc. 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  127 

While  the  town  was  insignificant,  the  county  appeared 
with  great  prominence.  It  was  the  unit  of  represen- 
tation, within  which  assemblies  highly  democratic 
convened  for  the  election  of  officers.  These  assem- 
blies were,  indeed,  a  revival  of  the  shire-moots  in  form 
more  complete  than  is  to  be  found  anywhere  on  An- 
glo-Saxon soil  since  the  days  of  the  Heptarchy.  Next 
to  the  Township-county  system  of  New  York,  the 
County  system  of  Pennsylvania,  after  the  ordinance 
of  1787  had  finally  thrown  open  to  settlement  the 
immense  central  region  of  America,  determined 
the  present  form  of  local  government  throughout 
the  great  Northwest.^ 

So  it  was  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  seventeenth 
century  established  himself  in  a  new  home  beyond 
the  sea,  bringing  with  him  Anglo-Saxon  freedom ; 
just  as  in  the  fifth  century  he  had  established  him- 
self in  England,  bringing  with  him  that  same  freedom 
from  the  marks,  hundreds,  and  tribes  of  the  plains  of 
the  Elbe  and  Weser.  As  that  ancient  freedom  was 
transferred  across  the  wider  ocean,  it  was  by  no 
means  unmodified.  The  proper  primordial  cell  of 
any  Anglo-Saxon  body  politic  is  the  popular  moot, 
the  assembly  of  the  sovereign  citizens  for 
the  exercise  of  government  of  the  people,   moot  the  pri- 

11  1  1     r  1  1  A  mordial  cell  of 

by  the  people,  and  lor  the  people.     Our  Angio-saxon 

,1  .      ,  ,  .  freedom. 

survey  enables  us  to  lude^e  the  precise  con-  summary  of 

,..[,,.  .  T  its  condition 

dition  of  this  primordial  cell  amonof  the  inthexiiir- 

^  °  teen  Colonies. 

Englishmen  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies.     It 

existed   in   the    soundest   and    best-developed    form 

in  the  New  England  town-meeting.      In   the    New 

1  Howard :   Local  Constitutional  Government  in  the  United  States, 
p.  383. 


128  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

England  general  courts,  eacli  deputy,  in  nowise 
superior  to  those  who  sent  him  in  wealth  or  posi- 
tion, stood  for  the  little  democracy  he  represented, 
as  the  humble  reeve  with  his  four  associates  had  for 
ages  stood  in  the  general  court  for  the  tithing  in 
which  he  dwelt.  He  was  not  his  own  master,  except 
in  so  far  as  his  superior  ability  or  character  made  his 
townsmen  give  way  to  him.  He  was  carefully  in- 
structed what  course  he  must  pursue ;  was  liable  to 
censure  if  he  went  against  the  wishes  of  his  sharply 
watching  constituents ;  and  each  year  must  submit 
himself  anew  to  the  suffrages  of  his  townsmen,  who 
promptly  consigned  him  to  private  life  if  his  course 
were  disa})proved.  Wliile  the  deputy  was  thus  closely 
watched,  the  town-meeting  took  care  to  delegate  just 
as  little  authority  as  possible.  It  reserved  to  itself 
all  business  except  what  it  must  perforce  put  out  of 
its  hands,  every  freeman  who  sat  in  the  town-hall  be- 
fore the  moderator  feeling  forever  upon  his  shoulders 
the  strain,  so  salutary  and  so  strengthening,  of  the 
public  burden.  Though  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies 
towns  play  little  part  except  in  New  England,  it 
would  be  wi'ong  to  conclude  that,  for  that  reason, 
the  primordial  cell  in  the  body  politic  was  elsewhere 
wanting.  Everywhere  we  can  find  the  county,  and 
at  the  heart  of  the  county  is  the  county  court.  It 
was  largely  a  reproduction  of  the  English  Quarter 
Sessions,  to  be  sure,  with  justices  appointed  from 
above,  not  elected  from  below ;  but  as  side  by  side 
with  the  Quarter  Sessions,  since  its  establishment  in 
the  time  of  Edward  III,  the  shire-moot  had  gone  on, 
retaining  its  ancient  functions  as  an  elective  body ; 

1  See  p.  115. 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   AMERICA.  129 

SO  we  can  find  in  America,  sometimes,  indeed,  in  a 
form  very  shadowy,  but  sometimes  in  a  form  very  dis- 
tinct, the  assembly  of  the  people  to  confer  and  to 
speak  their  own  will.  It  appears  vaguely  in  Virginia, 
where  we  have  seen  a  portion  of  the  people  cast  their 
votes  on  county-court  day,  in  the  presence  of  the 
sheriff,  for  the  burgesses  who  are  to  sit  at  Williams- 
burg. It  appears  very  definitely  in  Pennsylvania. 
Nowhere,  probably,  was  the  popular  moot  utterly 
unapparent,  though  in  many  places  no  doubt  it  was 
greatly  attenuated.  We  shall  note  hereafter  to  what 
extent  it  has  been  possible  to  revive  it,  and  what  are 
its  prospects  for  the  future. 


130  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  ENGLAND  OF  CHARLES  L 
Charles  I,  1625. 

Having  seen  an  English-speaking  world  firmly 
established  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  let  us  now 
return  to  England  to  watch  the  fortunes  of  the  stock 
in  the  old  home.  As  has  been  described,  an  utter  sub- 
version of  the  ancient  popular  freedom  seemed  on 
the  point  of  taking  place  at  the  time  of  the  accession 
of  the  Stuarts.  Under  James  I,  the  claims  of  abso- 
lutism, before  his  time  only  vaguely  set  forth,  were 
carefully  formulated  and  published.  These  claims, 
Charles  I  went  to  work  with  great  energy  to  make 
good.  At  the  beginning  of  1640,  when  Charles  had 
Effort  of  been  ruling  for  eleven  years  without  a 
^u'le'^wHhout  a  Parliament,  King  and  people  are  found 
Parliament,  locked  iu  a  ficrce  wrestle ;  for  the  people, 
roused  from  an  apathy  that  had  lasted  since  the  fall 
of  the  Lancastrians,  nearly  two  hundred  years  before, 
had  been  stung  into  vigorous  opposition  by  the  en- 
croachments of  tyrannical  jjrinces  utterly  without 
tact.  Charles,  at  war  with  the  Scotch,  upon  whom 
he  had  undertaken  to  force  a  form  of  worship  to  the 
last  degree  repugnant  to  them,  found  his  resources 


THE  ENGLAND  OF  CHAliLES  I.  131 

quite  inadequate  to  the  situation,  even  though  the 
judges  had  sanctioned  ship-money,  and  was  forced  at 
last  to  summon  Parliament  in  hope  of  a  subsidy. 
The  members  of  this  Parliament,  the  "  Short  Parlia- 
ment," took  their  places  upon  the  benches  rj,^^  g^^^^^ 
of  Westminster,  so  long  empty,  quite  Parliament, 
strange  to  legislative  work.  In  the  long  intermission, 
the  longest  which  had  occurred  since  Parliament 
began,  even  methods  of  procedure  had  been  to  a 
large  extent  forgotten.  There  wei'e  a  few  veterans, 
however,  who  had  fought  on  the  floor  of  St.  Stephen's 
in  the  days  of  Sir  John  Eliot  and  the  Petition  of 
Right,  and  these  served  as  instructors.  Particularly 
conspicuous  in  this  capacity  were  Pym  and  Hampden. 
Both  Houses  were  apt  pupils.  As  to  what  was  the 
right  course,  neither  Lords  nor  Commons  had  any 
doubt ;  and  before  three  weeks  had  passed,  the  King, 
disheartened  at  the  stern  demand  for  a  redress  of 
grievances  before  a  grant  of  money  should  be  made, 
put  an  end  to  the  session.  Necessity,  however, 
pressed.  His  ill-appointed,  demoralized  forces  fled 
before  the  Scotch  at  the  skirmish  of  Newburn,  in  the 
summer.  No  other  issue  being  possible,  the  writs 
were  issued  again,  and  in  November,  1640,  convened 
that  memorable  Parliament,  whose  history  Assembling 
was  not  to  end  until  nearl}^  twenty  years  PaJuamenu 
had  passed,  —  the  "  Long  Parliament." 

The  temper  of  the  Long  Parliament  was  most  stub- 
born, and  it  showed  from  the  first  the  soundest  Eng- 
lish courage  in  carrying  out  its  purpose.  Before  the 
King  could  have  help  from  the  nation,  a  number  of 
innovations  upon  time-honored  constitutional  ways 
must  come  to  an  end,  and  a  swarm  of  evil  advisers 


132  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

must  be  dismissed  and  brought  to  judgment.     As  yet, 
Attempts  to     ^^^ic  was  uo  wliisper  of  any  polity  except ' 
i?bri°ura1?e"'"     tliat   wliicli   had  come    up  in  Enghand  in 
n?d8,^id*^'     feudal  times,  — in  which  the  people  were 

Commons.  i  •  •         ,  i  «         , 

by  no  means  sovereign  as  m  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  but  stood  co-ordinate  with  the  King, 
and  a  privileged  class,  —  possessing  a  voice  in  the  gov- 
ernment, but  far  from  being  supreme  ;  in  this  system, 
the  balance  had  been  disturbed  by  the  effort  of  the 
monarch  to  arrogate  all  substantial  power  to  himself. 
Both  Houses  were  equally  zealous  to  restore  the 
ancient  equilibrium,  lost  since  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 
Both  Houses  were  firm  in  declaring  that  England 
must  be  for  Englishmen ;  foreign  money,  foreign 
armies,  must  play  no  part  in  English  affairs ;  above 
all,  the  terrible  potentate,  whose  yoke  had  been  thrown 
off  a  hundred  years  before,  but  who  sat  forever  sleep- 
less upon  the  distant  Seven  Hills,  was  a  personage 
abhorrent. 

At  once  after  the  assembling.  Laud  and  Strafford, 
the  leaders  of  the  King's  administration,  the  chief 

directors  of  the  courts  of  High  Commission 

Arrest  of  i     o  /^i  i  -i  n  ^ 

Laud  and         aucl  Star  Chamber,  were  taken  from  the 

Strafford.  •     t       ^  i       r>   <- 1 

right  hand  of  Chailes  and  thrown  into  dun- 
geons ;  while  frowns  so  sinister  were  bent  upon  Hen- 
rietta, the  Catholic  Queen,  that  fears  were  entertained 
of  her  being  torn  to  pieces  in  the  street.  Strafford 
atoned  at  the  block  for  his  effort  to  play  in  England 
the  part  of  a  Richelieu ;  his  allies  in  promoting  an 
arbitrary  policy,  fled  for  the  most  part  beyond  the 
sea ;  Laud,  in  the  Tower,  awaited  the  axe,  while  the 
ecclesiasticism  of  which  he  had  beeii  the  type  and 
spokesman  was  proscriljed. 


THE   ENGLAND   OF   CHAIILES   I.  133 

Charles  for  the  time  showed  prudence :  he  won 
friends  among  the  Scotch  Covenanters  by  pretending  a 
spirit  of  concession ;  he  bent  before  the  storm  of  reform 
which  raged  in  his  southern  kingdom  ;  he  appeared  on 
the  point  of  gaining  the  advantage,  for  to  many  in 
the  nation  the  fierce  rush  of  Parliament  toward  a  new 
order  began  to  seem  extreme  and  dangerous.  The 
Grand  Remonstrance  of  November,  1641,^ 
when  the  Long  Parliament  (which  had  Remon- 
extorted  from  the  King  authority  to  sit  as 
long  as  it  should  think  proper)  was  just  a  year  old, 
was  a  sharp  arraignment  of  the  King  for  his  arbitrary 
policy.  It  was  received  with  small  favor,  being  car- 
ried in  Parliament  by  a  bare  majority  against  an  op- 
position so  violent  that  a  bloody  battle  seemed  on  the 
point  of  taking  place  within  the  walls  of  St.  Stephen's 
itself.  A  reaction  had  set  in  which  a  cunning  despot 
might  have  used  to  make  his  position  secure.  Fortu- 
nately Charles  was  as  stupid  as  he  was  stubborn.  By 
violating  the  most  cherished  privileges  of  Parliament 
in  his  attempt  in  January,  1642,  to  seize  within  the 
House  of  Commons  the  Five  Members,  he 

,  1-1  •TCI  11         Attempt  to 

coniirmed  m  the  minds  of  the  people  the  arrest  the  Five 
worst  charges  that  had  been  brought  as  to 
his  disposition  and  purpose,  and  checked  to  a  large 
extent  the  outflow  of  sympathy  which  his  situation 
was  beginning  to  evoke.  To  a  large  extent,  but  not 
entirely  ;  for  multitudes,  both  of  high  and  low  degree, 
who  in  the  time  of  the  demand  of  ship-money  had 
been  glad  of  the  resistance  of  Hampden,  and  who 
more    recently  had  rejoiced  when  the  usher  of  the 

1  See  "  Constitutional  Documents  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  selected 
and  edited  by  S.  R.  Gardiner,"  Clarendon  Press,  1889,  p.  127. 


134  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

black  rod  committed  Strafford  to  the  Tower,  had 
begun  to  think  that  the  course  of  reform  was  quite 
too  fast  and  too  far,  that  the  King  had  been  disci- 
plined enough,  and  that  a  good  result  for  the  country 
would  be  sooner  reached  by  standing  for  the  Sover- 
eign than  by  standing  for  the  Houses. 

Only  war  was  possible.     On  the  side  of  the  King 

were   arrayed   most   of   the  nobles   and   gentry  and 

the  vast  number  of  those  in  a  humble  sta- 

CoDBtitution  .  .  , 

of  the  two        tion  who  were  especially  dependent  upon 

parties.  ^  .  . 

them.  Here,  also,  stood  the  universities 
and  most  of  those  possessing  a  refined  culture.  As 
to  religious  faith.  Catholics  and  Anglicans  were 
adherents  of  the  royal  cause.  The  strength  of  the 
Houses,  on  the  other  hand,  lay  in  the  "plain  people." 
In  this  class  must  be  comprehended,  first,  the  traders 
and  artisans  of  the  towns,  especially  of  London ;  and, 
second,  the  small  landed  proprietors  in  the  country, 
the  yeomanry.  For  more  than  a  century,  this  sturdy 
body  of  the  people  had  been  diminishing  in  numbers, 
and  its  decline  had  been  lamented  by  great  men. 
"  My  father,"  said  Hugh  Latimer,  in  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  "was  a  yeoman,  and  had  no 
lands  of  his  own ;  only  he  had  a  farm  at  a  rent  of 
three  or  four  pounds  by  the  year  at  the  uttermost, 
and  thereon  he  tilled  so  much  as  kept  half  a  dozen 
men.  He  had  a  walk  for  a  hundred  sheep,  and  my 
mother  milked  thirty  kine ;  he  was  able  and  did  find 
the  King  a  harness,  with  himself  and  his  hoi-se,  when 
he  came  to  the  place  that  he  should  receive  the  King's 
wages.  I  can  remember  that  I  buckled  his  harness 
when  he  went  to  Blackheatli  field.  He  kept  me  to 
school ;  he  married  my  sisters  for  five  pounds  apiece, 


THE   ENGLAND   OF   CHARLES   L  135 

SO  that  he  brought  them  up  in  godliness  and  fear  of 
God.  He  kept  hospitality  for  his  neighbors,  and 
some  alms  he  gave  to  the  poor.  And  all  this  he  did 
of  the  same  farm,  where  he  that  now  hath  it  payeth 
sixteen  pounds  rent  or  more  by  the  year,  and  is  not 
able  to  do  anything  for  his  Prince,  for  himself,  nor 
for  his  children,  nor  to  give  a  cup  of  drink  to  the 
poor." 

Sir  Thomas  More,  too,  referring  to  the  straits  into 
which  the  small  farmers  were  brought  by  the  ad- 
vancement of  rent  in  Tudor  days,  declares  :  "  In  this 
way  it  comes  to  pass  that  these  poor  wretches,  men, 
women,  husbands,  orphans,  widows,  parents  with  little 
children,  householders  greater  in  number  than  in 
wealth,  all  of  these  emigrate  from  their  native  fields, 
without  knowing  where  to  go." 

To  these  complaints  may  be  added  those  of  Roger 
Ascham  and  Lord  Bacon,  at  a  time  a  little  later. 
"And  so  from  the  stuff  of  the  Latimers,  from  the 
sturdy  spirit  that  amid  the  flames  of  the  Oxford 
stake  cried,  '  Play  the  man.  Master  Ridley,'  and  the 
mingled  strength  and  sweetness  that  neither  pros- 
perity could  taint,  nor  the  executioner  abash,  were 
evolved  thieves  and  vagrants,  the  mass  of  crimi- 
nality and  pauperism  that  still  blights  the  innermost 
petals  and  preys,  a  gnawing  worm,  at  the  root  of 
England's  rose."  ^ 

The  disappearance  at  a  later  time  of  the  yeomanr}^, 
the  English  patriot  to-day  mourns  over  as  the  great- 
est calamity  which  has  befallen  his  country.  In  the 
seventeenth  century,  however,  the  yeomen  were  still 
numerous,  for  fully  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 

1  Henry  George  :  Progress  and  Poverty,  pp.  210,  211. 


136  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

small  farmers  could  be  counted.  From  these,  with 
a  considerable  infusion  from  the  craftsmen  of  the 
cities,  their  close  brothers,  proceeded  in  the  course 
of  the  next  few  years,  under  the  guidance  of  a  match- 
less leader  of  men,  the  most  extraordinary  soldiers 
whom  the  world  has  ever  seen,  —  of  courage  most 
unflinching,  of  aim  the  highest,  strictly  submissive 
to  the  severest  discipline,  and  yet  putting  brain  and 
soul  into  their  fighting  to  a  degree  not  equalled 
before  or  since. 

In  religion,  the  party  of  the  Parliament  comprised 
all  such  as  had  lived  in  more  or  less  definite  non- 
conformity to  the  English  Church  except  the  Catho- 
lics ;  in  a  word,  the  Puritans.  No  sharp  line,  indeed, 
can  be  drawn  between  the  partisans  of  King  and 
Parliament.  There  were  traders  and  farmers  who 
fought  for  Charles,  side  by  side  with  the  nobles  and 
gentry  and  their  retainers  :  the  King's  strength,  how- 
ever, did  not  lie  with  them.  Just  so  for  the  Parlia- 
ment, strove  here  and  there  high-born  men  of  long 
descent  and  great  estates ;  but  from  the  outbreak  of 
war  the  number  was  small,  and  as  the  struggle  pro- 
ceeded it  grew  smaller,  until  the  plain  people  at  last 
stood  almost  by  themselves. 

In  the  excited  nation,  the  tumult  of  argument  be- 
tween neighbor  and  neighbor  swelled  into  a  roar  of 
Outbreak  of  outcrics  of  recrimination,  out  of  which  rose 
at  last,  in  1642,  the  loud  clash  of  arms. 
As  yet,  there  was  no  advance  beyond  tlie  principles 
of  1640,  among  the  Parliamentarians.  "  King  Pym  " 
ruled  at  Westminster  with  autliority  derived  only 
from  an  extraordinary  personality ;  but  none  the  less 
real  on  that  account.     Hampden,  though  not  in  chief 


THE   ENGLAXD   OF   CHARLES   I.  137 

command  in  the  army,  yet  at  the  head  of  the  noble 
Buckinghamshire  regiment,  the  most  popular  man  in 
England,  infused  his  spirit  into  those  who  had  taken 
the  field.  Both  Pym  and  Hampden  would  have 
shrunk  utterly  from  popular  government  as  we  know 
it;  for  they  saw  nothing  better  for  England  than  a 
monarch,  restricted,  but  still  possessing  power  in 
his  own  right,  —  nobles,  under  limitations,  but  still 
possessing  high  privileges,  —  a  people,  not  voiceless 
in  affairs  of  state,  but  by  no  means  sovereign,  by  no 
means  the  factor  in  the  state  through  and  for  which 
all  things  should  be  and  be  done.  From  ^amgof 
the  brow  of  Edgehill,  Charles,  one  clear  Kdgehiu. 
October  day,  sweeping  with  his  eye  the  broad  land- 
scape, which  extended  from  the  hills  of  the  western 
shires,  for  the  most  part  faithful  to  him,  to  the  long 
levels  of  the  eastern  counties,  where  lay  the  rebel 
strength,  beheld  in  the  direction  of  Warwick  the 
advancing  army  of  his  foes.  Presently  on  the  plain 
below.  Prince  Rupert  for  the  first  time  in  pitched 
battle,  with  picturesque,  mad  energy,  shook  the  reins 
over  the  neck  of  his  war-horse  ;  the  Roundhead  foot 
standing  meantime  with  the  steadfastness  that  was  to 
bring  to  pass  in  the  end  memorable  results.  There 
was  no  decision  at  Edgehill  though  there  was  much 
bloodshed,  but  in  the  months  that  followed  the  scale 
inclined  in  favor  of.  the  King.  The  year  1643,  a 
gloomy  one  for  the  Houses,  drew  forward  with  defeat 
and  loss.  Pyni  died  worn  out  at  his  post  at  St. 
Stephen's ;  Hampden  fell  at  Chalgrove  Field. 

But  a  change  for  the  better  took  place.  Wliile 
Gloucester,  beset  by  the  conquering  Cavaliers,  resisted 
with  a  courage  that  seemed  only  desperate  and  futile, 


las  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOAf. 

young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  upon  whom  had  fallen  the 
mantle  of  Pym,  saved  the  all  but  hopeless  cause  of 
the  Houses  by  negotiating  with  the  Scots  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,^  bringing  thereby 
i°at"e and      to  liis  disheartcncd  party  the  friendship  of 

Covenant  and  ,•  ,•  i?   •         t    i   •         j_ 

Marston  au  euergctic  nation,  —  a  iriendship  at  once 

made  tangible  through  a  reinforcement  of 
twenty  thousand  hardy  troops.  The  pikes  of  the 
London  train-bands  found  the  joints  of  the  Cavalier 
armor  on  the  field  of  Newbury.  A  few  months  more 
and  the  hard  rider,  Rupert,  was  himself  overridden 
upon  Marston  Moor.  Standing  amid  the  wreck  on 
that  terrible  field,  thinking  of  the  panoply  of  proof 
which  the  swords  of  his  troopers  had  not  been  able  to 
shiver,  and  of  the  stout  hearts  which  the  panoply 
covered,  he  administered  a  noteworthy  baptism,  so 
tliat  in  Rupert's  phrase  those  invincible  squadrons 
and  their  leader  stand  in  history  as  Ironsides. 

Marston  Moor  was  for  Charles  the  besrinniner  of  the 
end.  The  Self-Denying  Ordinance^  shelved  for  the 
Parliament  the  incapable  generals ;  the  New  Model  re- 
organized and  concentrated  the  army.  On  the  Broad 
Battle  of  Moor  by  Naseby,  the  King,  outnumbered, 
Naseby.  dashcd  witli  all   the  valor   in   the   world 

upon  the  line  of  his  foes.  Rupert  sought  to  wash  out 
the  disgrace  of  his  defeat  before  York  in  the  blood  of 
the  Parliamentary  left  •,  but  as  he  galloped  too  fast 
and  too  far,  Cromwell  with  the  Ironsides  trampled 
out  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale,  and  Fairfax  snatched 
the  coloi-s  from  their  dying  bearer  at  the  King's  centre. 
When,  under   the  hot  noon  of   that  June  day,   the 

1  Gardiner  :  Documents  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  j^  187. 

2  Ihkl.,  p.  205. 


THE  ENGLAND  OF  CHARLES  L      139 

roads  northward  to  Leicester  became  the  theatre  of 
panic-struck  flight  and  implacable  pursuit,  all  was 
over  for  the  cause  of  Charles :  henceforth  he  could 
only  "  flit  like  a  wounded  partridge,"  from  castle  to 
castle,  among  his  friends  still  faithful,  till  at  last,  at 
Newark,  he  gave  himself  into  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies. Though  beaten  in  the  field,  and  in  the  power 
of  his  foes,  he  was  not  yet  hopeless.  Among  the 
victors  discord  had  arisen.  The  Independents  ^  had 
gradually  acquired  great  influence,  who,  rejecting  the 
authority  of  both  bishop  and  synod,  demanded  tolera- 
tion for  all  shades  of  religious  belief,  —  a  principle 
which  filled  the  Presbr/terians,  heretofore  mainly  pow- 
erful in  Parliament,  with  no  less  horror  than  the 
Popery  and  Prelacy  which  they  had  been  so  sternly 
confronting.  Charles  imagined  he  might  procure  by 
intrigue  what  he  could  not  win  by  arms.  He  pal- 
tered in  a  double  sense,  now  with  one  party,  now 
with  the  other,  reserving  in  his  treacherous  heart 
the  right  to  withdraw  any  promise  he  might  make, 
to  falsify  any  word  he  might  utter,  to  beti'ay  any 
agent  he  might  see  fit  to  use,  if  he  might  thereby 
further  his  scheme,  to  rule  without  restraint.  For  a 
time  he  appeared  likely  to  succeed.  His  foes  were  a 
household  utterly  at  variance  among  themselves.  To 
the  eye  of  the  world,  the  great  army  leaders,  Crom- 
well, Fairfax,  Ireton,  seemed  to  have  lost  all  decision, 
if  not  to  have  become  quite  faithless  to  the  cause 
for  which  they  had  fought.  In  the  whole  history  of 
human  liberty  there  has  been  no  more  perilous  crisis 

1  For  the  effect  of  an  influence  from  America  upon  the  rise  of  the 
Independents,  see  the  writer's  "  Life  of  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,"  p. 
164,  etc. 


140  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

than  that  which  liad  now  come  about.  Through 
whom  was  tlie  danger  averted,  and  what  means  were 
used  in  the  work  of  saving  ?  In  the  story  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  no  moment  is  more  interesting  than 
that  which  we  have  reached ;  there  are  no  heroes  whom 
the  lovei'S  of  that  freedom  shoukl  hold  higlier,  than 
those  who  now  came  forward.  They  were  none  other 
than  tlie   common  soldiers,  the  rank  and 

The  rank  and       tt  «.      i  t  t  •  i  i 

file  of  the         hie  ot  thosc  cxtraordmary  Ironsides,  wlio. 

Ironsides. 

as  we  know,  were  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  the  "  lAiim  people  "  in  arms.  They  were  trades- 
men and  artisans  of  the  towns,  who,  in  the  stress  of 
the  trying  time,  had  laid  aside  yard-stick,  hammer, 
and  plane ;  above  all,  they  wore  the  strong  yeomen, 
the  stock  that  had  furnished  archers  and  spearmen  to 
the  great  Edwards  and  Henrys,  the  stock  from  which 
came  the  faithful  ceorls  who  died  with  Saxon  Harold 
in  defence  of  the  raven  standard  at  Hastings.  Out 
from  them  had  just  gone  the  settlers  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  these  yeomen,  who,  like  their  ancestors, 
forsaking  in  a  trying  time  plough  and  scythe  for 
blade  and  corselet  (with  what  effect  has  been  nar- 
rated), now  while  the  great  men  hesitated,  inter- 
fered that  the  fruits  of  their  victories  might  be 
secured.  Forsaking  the  original  ground  of  their 
party,  that  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  should  be  in 
equipoise,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Ironsides  now  put 
forth  a  plea  for  that  earlier  polity,  the  polity  of  their 
ancestors  on  the  Weser  plains,  w"hicli,  transferred  to 
Britain,  had  been  fouglit  for  beneath  the  hill  where 
gleams  even  to-da}-  the  white  horse,  —  tlio  polity 
renovated  by  Alfred,  overwhelmed  by  the  Normans, — 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people. 


THE   ENGLAND   OF   CHARLES   L  141 

In  October,  1647,  the  army,  fearing  that  their 
effort  for  a  freer  England  was  to  be  in  vain,  had 
mutinied.  The  mutiny  had  been  promptly  Their  mani- 
subdued,  but  the  spirit  out  of  which  it  feetoes. 
grew  was  destined  to  prevail  for  a  time.  The 
mutineers  had  worn  in  their  hats  a  paper  which 
had  been  drawn  up  and  printed  among  the  Agitators^ 
the  lower  council  of  the  Army.^  It  was  called  the 
Agreement  of  the  People  ;  at  this,  and  at  another 
manifesto  of  the  Army,  The  Case  of  the  Whole 
Army,  it  is  now  time  for  us  to  cast  a  glance.  It 
was  not  unnatural,  perhaps,  that  seeing  their  generals 
on  intimate  terms  with  the  King,  who  lived  in  splen- 
dor while  the  world  did  homage  to  him,  the  soldiers 
should  suspect  them  of  lukewarmness,  or  indeed 
treachery,  as  regarded  things  the  soldiers  felt  to  be 
essential.  This  they  express,  and  at  the  same  time 
they  declare  to  their  general  as  follows  :  — 

"  We  presume  that  your  Excellency  will  not  think 
it  strange,  or  judge  us  disobedient  or  refractory,  that 
we  should  state  the  case  of  the  Army,  how  declined 
from  its  first  principles  of  safety,  what  mischiefs  are 
threatened  thereby,  and  what  remedies  are  suitable. 
For,  sir,  should  you,  yea,  should  the  whole  Parlia- 
ment or  Kingdom  exempt  us  from  this  service,  or 
should  command  our  silence  and  forbearance,  yet 
could  not  they  nor  you  discharge  us  of  our  duty 
to  God,  or  to  our  own  natures.  ...  If  our  duty 
bind  us  when  we  see  our  neighbors'  houses  on  fire. 


1  The  citations  which  follow  have  been  previously  used  in  the  writer's 
"  Life  of  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane  "  (p.  277,  etc.),  where  the  reader  will 
find  the  action  of  the  Army  and  the  Rmup  Parliament  more  fully 
detailed. 


142  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

to  waive  all  forms,  ceremonies,  or  compliments  forth- 
with (not  waiting  for  order  or  leave)  to  attempt 
the  quenching  thereof,  without  farther  scruple  as 
thereunto  called  of  God,  .  .  .  then  much  more  are 
we  obliged  and  called,  when  we  behold  the  great 
mansion-house  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  of  this 
Army,  on  fire,  all  ready  to  be  devoured  with  slavery, 
confusion,  and  ruin,  and  their  national  native  free- 
dom (the  price  of  our  treasure  and  blood)  wrested 
out  of  their  hands,  as  at  this  present  appeareth  to 
our  best  understanding,"  etc.^  This  letter  was  dated 
at  Hempstead,  October  15,  1647,  and  signed  by  the 
Agitators,  for  the  regiments  of  horse  of  Cromwell, 
Ireton,  Fleetwood,  Rich,  and  Whalley,  the  core  of 
the  Ironsides.  Though  prolix,  it  contains  no  cant 
or  superstition.  Is  there  not,  indeed,  much  beauty 
and  pathos  here  ?  And  now  let  us  see  what  is  rec- 
ommended in  a  paper  of  proposals  received  in  Par- 
liament, November  1,  from  the  Army. 

"  Having  by  our  late  labors  and  hazards  made  it  ap- 
pear to  the  world  at  how  high  a  rate  we  value  our  just 
freedom  ;  and  God  having  so  far  owned  our  cause  as 
to  deliver  the  enemies  thereof  into  our  hands,  we  do 
now  hold  ourselves  bound  in  mutual  duty  to  each 
other,  to  take  the  best  care  we  can  for  the  future,  to 
avoid  both  the  danger  of  returning  into  a  slavish 
condition,  and  the  changeable  remedy  of  another 
war.  .  .  .  That  hereafter  our  Representatives  [Par- 
liaments] be  neither  left  to  an  uncertainty  for  the 
time,  nor  made  useless  to  the  ends  for  which  they 
were   intended,   we    declare,   I.  That   the  people    of 

1  From  the  letter  to  Fairfax  accompanying  "'I'lic  Case  of  tlie  Whole 
Army."     Rush  worth  :  Historical  Collections,  VII,  p.  846,  etc. 


THE   ENGLAND   OF   CHARLES   L  143 

England  being  at  this  day  very  unequally  distributed 
by  counties,  cities,  and  boroughs,  for  elections  of 
their  deputies  in  Parliament,  ought  to  be  more  indif- 
ferently [impartially]  proportioned,  according  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants."  The  clause  goes  on  to 
demand  the  arrangement  of  this  before  the  end  of  the 
present  Parliament,  which,  in  the  2d  article,  the 
soldiers  request  may  take  place  in  September,  1648, 
to  prevent  the  inconvenience  arising  from  the  long 
continuance  of  the  same  persons  in  authority.  After 
providing  in  the  3d  article  that  Parliament  shall  be 
chosen  biennially,  every  second  March,  we  find  in 
article  4,  a  most  significant  declaration :  "  That  the 
power  of  this  and  all  future  Representatives  [Parlia- 
ments] of  this  nation  is  inferior  only  to  theirs  who 
chuse  them,  and  extends,  without  the  consent  of  any 
other  person  or  persons,  to  the  enacting,  altering,  and 
repealing  of  laws,  to  appointments  of  all  kinds,  to  mak- 
ing war  and  peace,  to  treating  with  foreign  states," 
etc. ;  with  the  following  limitations,  however :  "  I. 
That  matter  of  religion,  and  the  ways  of  God's  wor- 
ship, are  not  at  all  intrusted  by  us  to  any  human 
power,  because  therein  we  cannot  admit  or  exceed  a 
tittle  of  what  our  consciences  dictate  to  be  the  mind 
of  God,  without  wilful  sin :  nevertheless,  the  public 
way  of  instructing  the  nation,  so  it  be  not  compul- 
sive, is  referred  to  their  discretion."  Other  limita- 
tions are,  that  there  shall  be  no  impressing  of  men 
for  service  ;  that  aftei-  the  present  Parliament  no  one 
is  to  bo  questioned  for  anything  said  or  done  in  the 
late  disturbances  ;  that  laws  are  to  affect  all  alike,  and 
to  be  equal  and  good.  ••  These  things  we  declare  to 
be  our  native  rights,"  the  document  concludes,  and 


144  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

we  are  compelled  to  maintain  them,  "  not  only  by  the 
example  of  our  ancestors,  whose  blood  was  often 
spent  in  vain  for  the  recovery  of  their  freedoms, 
suffering  themselves  through  fraudulent  accommoda- 
tions to  be  still  deluded  of  the  fruit  of  their  victory, 
but  also  by  our  own  woeful  experience,  who,  having 
long  expected  and  dearly  earned  the  establishment  of 
those  certain  rules  of  government,  are  yet  made  to 
depend  for  the  settlement  of  our  peace  and  freedom, 
upon  him  that  intended  our  bondage  and  brought 
a  cruel  war  upon  us." 

This  manifesto  was  signed  by  nine  regiments  of 
horse  and  seven  of  foot.  Had  Roger  Williams  and 
Samuel  Adams  put  their  heads  together,  could  the 
outcome  have  been  better  ?  "  The  power  of  this  and 
all  future  Parliaments  of  this  nation  is  inferior  only 
to  theirs  who  chuse  them,  and  extends,  without  the 
consent  of  any  other  person  or  persons,  to  the  enact- 
ing, altering,  and  repealing  of  laws,  to  appointments 
of  all  kinds,  to  making  war  and  peace,  to  treating 
with  foreign  states,"  no  exception  to  be  made  but  in 
the  matter  of  religion,  —  that  to  be  intrusted  to  no 
human  power,  but  each  man  to  choose  as  his  con- 
science may  dictate. 

Who  the  man  was  who  formulated  so  finely  these 
utterances,  no  one  can  say.  They  came  from  the 
rank  and  file  :  under  some  one  of  those  steel  liead- 
pieces  worked  the  brain  that  outlined  this  noble 
polity,  in  which  there  was  no  place  for  King,  Lord, 
or  Prelate,  because  the  People  was  to  be  Sovereign. 
The  leaders  felt  uneasy.  Cromwell  could  not  yet  go 
so  far ;    Ireton   now   rejected   it   with   indignation.^ 

1  Godwiu :  History  of  the  Commouwealth,  II,  p.  i51. 


THE   ENGLAND   OF   CHARLES   L  145 

At  a  meeting   convened  in  November   to   establish 
harmony  between  chiefs  and  soldiers,  when 

''  .  /  Reluctance  of 

the  latter  reiected  a  statement  in  which  the  leaders  to 

•"  Bubscnbe. 

the  name  and  essential  prerogatives  of  a 
King  were  provided  for,  Ireton  abruptly  departed, 
declaring  that  such  a  matter  must  not  be  touched 
upon.  Vane,  too,  no  doubt  at  this  time  was  ap- 
palled at  such  extreme  ideas.  Both  Court,  Presby- 
tery, and  Prelacy  were  hateful,  but  Royalty  and  an 
Upper  House  seemed  too  potent  and  deeply  rooted 
to  be  disturbed.  How  untried  and  chimerical  the 
scheme  of  a  republic,  in  which  all  precedents  were 
to  be  disregarded  and  tradition  to  be  sacrificed ! 
From  whom,  too,  did  the  ideas  emanate  ?  from  men 
of  no  social  importance,  from  Levellers,  fanatical, 
haughtily  insubordinate,  discountenanced  by  every 
class  in  society  hitherto  held  to  be  respectable  ! 

But  at  such  times  men  think  quickly.  The  lead- 
ers took  the  ideas  of  the  rank  and  file,  and  before 
the  year  ended  the  chiefs  and  the  soldiers 

i<r>'-iii  T  '^^^  prayer- 

were  one.     December  22,  the  shortest  day  meeting  of  th« 

Ironsides. 

of  the  dark  English  winter,  a  public  recon- 
ciliation took  place  amid  fasting  and  prayer.  To- 
gether they  sought  the  Lord  from  nine  in  the  morn- 
ing until  seven  at  night,  Cromwell  and  Ireton  among 
others  praying  fervently  and  pathetically.  The 
assembly  came  forth  hand  in  hand,  and  the  condition 
of  union  was  that  Charles  Stuart,  that  man  of  blood, 
should  be  called  to  account.^ 

1  Guizot:  History  of  English  Revolution,  p.  388,  American  ed.;  also 
Life  of  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  pp.  281,  282. 


146  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH. 

Commonwealth,  1649.  Oliver  Cromwell,  Protector,  1653. 

Richard  Cromwell,  Protector,  1658. 

During-  the  year  1648,  a  struggle  took  place  in 
England  in  which  the  Ironsides  won  a  victory  against 
„.  .,         ,     tremendous  odds.     The  Kinsf,  in  the  hands 

Civil  war  of  o' 

1648.  ^£  i^j^g  captors,  seeking   to  draw  advantage 

from  the  distractions  wliich  prevailed  among  tliem,  at 
last  leagued  himself  secretly  witli  the  Presbyterians  of 
Scotland,  promising  them  indulgence  for  their  form  of 
worship  and  an  extirpation  of  the  party  of  tolerance, 
if  by  their  help  he  could  come  again  to  the  enjoyment 
of  his  own.  The  warfare  which  followed  was  more 
desperate  than  that  of  the  earlier  civil  war.  The 
King  was  not  in  the  field,  and  the  disposition  to  spare 
was  far  less.  To  the  Scotch,  the  English  Presby- 
terians joined  themselves  in  multitudes,  men  who  till 
now  had  fought  stubbornly  for  the  Houses ;  while  the 
old  Cavaliers,  whether  (\itholic  or  Anglican,  rode 
forth  again  in  actual  combat,  or  with  sword  on  thigh 
only  waited  for  a  favoral)le  moment.  But  the  In- 
dependents, now  thoroughly  united,  were  without 
fear,  and  matchless  l)()th  in  tlie  field  and  in  counsel. 
While  Vane  headed  off  plots  at  Westminster,  Ireton 
and  Fairfax,  and  above  all  Cromwell,  smote  with  a 
warlike  efficiency  scarcely  ever  })aralleled.     Royalism 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  147 

in  Wales  was  trampled  under  foot.  In  Southern 
England,  the  King's  cause,  fiercely  fought  for  about 
London,  went  down  utterly  at  last  in  the  fall  of  the 
stronghold  of  Colchester,  in  Essex ;  while  coichester 
Cromwell,  in  midsummer,  with  an  army  """^  Preston, 
small  but  perfect,  sweeping  in  long  detour  from 
Western  Wales  to  Central  England,  then  far  north 
into  Lancashire,  untouched  by  heat  or  fatigue,  fell 
upon  the  flank  of  the  invading  Scots,  and,  eight 
thousand  against  twenty  thousand,  swept  them  from 
the  earth  at  the  battle  of  Preston.  At  the  end 
of  the  summer  all  resistance  had  ceased;  the  Iron- 
sides were  masters  of  England,  and  their  hands  were 
hard.  Presently  the  programme  of  the  victors  was 
announced.  The  captains  now  stood  thoroughly 
with  their  men  and  with  the  chiefs  at  St.  Stephen's. 

The  Grand  Ami}-  Remonstrance,^  written  by  Ire- 
ton,  is  the  long  and  carefully  prepared  work  of  a 
scholar  and  lawyer.  Though  addressed 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  intended  Army  Remon- 
to  express  to  the  nation  the  position  of 
the  Army,  and  the  plan  they  meant  to  pursue.  The 
attempt  to  treat  with  the  King  was  solemnly 
denounced;  "though  the  Lord  had  again  laid  bare 
his  arm,  and  that  small  Army  which  they  had 
ceased  to  trust,  and  had  well-nigh  deserted  and  cast 
off,  had  been  enabled  to  shiver  all  the  banded 
strength  of  a  second  English  insurrection,  aided  by 
Scotland,  —  even  after  the  rebuke  from  God,  were 
they  not  pursuing  the  same  phantom  of  accommoda- 
tion ?  "  The  principle  was  laid  down  that  the  "  Repre- 
sentative Council  of  Parliament "  must  be  supreme ; 

1  Rushworth,  VII,  pp.  1297-98,  1311-12,  1330.    Whitlocke,  II,  p.  436. 


148  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

that  any  form  of  monarchy  must  be  regarded  as  a 
creation  of  that  freely  elected  council  for  special 
ends  and  within  special  limits ;  and  that  the  monarch, 
if  in  any  way  derelict,  could  justly  be  called  to 
account.  It  was  urged  that  Charles  deserved  to  be 
so  called  to  account.  If  there  were  any  hope  of 
amendment,  he  might  be  treated  tenderly.  "  If  there 
were  any  good  evidence  of  a  proportionable  remorse 
in  him,  and  that  his  coming  in  again  were  with  a  new 
or  changed  heart,  .  .  .  his  person  might  be  capable 
of  pity,  mercy,  and  pardon,  and  an  accommodation 
with  him,  with  a  full  and  free  yielding  on  his  part  to 
all  the  aforesaid  points  of  public  and  religious  inter- 
est in  contest,  might,  in  charitable  construction,  be 
just,  and  possibly  safe  and  beneficial."  But  the  King 
had  been  utterly  faithless,  it  was  urged,  and  contin- 
ued to  be  so.  In  a  passage  showing  how  thoroughly 
they  penetrated  the  King's  falseness,  it  was  declared 
that  even  now,  after  his  complete  second  ruin,  he 
was  plotting  and  prevaricating,  while  secretly  ex- 
pecting aid  from  the  Irish  rebels.  "  Have  you  not 
found  him  at  this  play  all  along,  and  do  not  all  men 
acknowledge  him  most  exquisite  at  it?"  At  length 
came  the  immediate  demands,  and,  first,  that  the 
King  might  be  brought  to  justice ;  that  his  heirs,  the 
])oys  afterward  to  be  Charles  II  and  James  II,  should 
return  to  England  and  submit  themselves  completely 
to  the  judgment  of  the  nation ;  and  that  a  number  of 
the  chief  instruments  of  the  King  in  the  wars  should  be 
brought  with  him  to  capital  punishment.  All  obdu- 
rate delinquents  Avere  to  undergo  banisliment  and  con- 
fiscation of  property,  and  all  claims  of  the  Army  to  be 
fully  satisfied.  In  the  prospective  demands,  with  which 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  149 

the  noble  document  ends,  the  Army  reqmre  :  1,  a  ter- 
mination of  the  existing  Parliament  within  a  reason- 
able time ;  2,  a  guaranteed  succession  of  subsequent 
Parliaments,  annual  or  biennial,  the  franchise  to  be 
so  adjusted  that  Parliament  shall  really  represent  all 
reputable  Englishmen;  3,  the  temporary  disfranchise- 
ment of  all  who  had  adhered  to  the  King ;  and,  4, 
a  strict  provision  that  the  representation  of  the  people 
should  be  supreme  in  all  things,  only  not  to  re-ques- 
tion the  policy  of  the  Civil  War  itself,  or  touch  the 
foundations  of  common  right,  liberty,  and  safety.  In 
the  polity  indicated,  the  kingship,  if  kept  up,  was  to 
be  a  purely  elective  office,  ever}'-  successive  holder  of 
which  should  be  chosen  expressly  by  Parliament,  and 
should  have  no  veto  on  laws  passed  by  Parliament,  — 
in  other  words,  an  American  President,  —  elected  by 
Congress,  however,  instead  of  an  Electoral  College, 
and  shorn  of  his  great  power  of  the  negative  voice. 

These  were  the  ideas  of  the  soldiers,  but  not  of  the 
majority  of  Parliament.  While  the  Army-men  had 
been   setting   forth    their   Grand    Remon- 

.  »  T-»      T  11     Parliament 

strance,  a  committee  from  Parliament  had  resists  the 

•       •  -11  Army. 

been  negotiating  a  new  treaty  ^vith  the 
King.  The  latter,  untaught  by  his  more  recent  re- 
verses, as  also  he  had  been  untaught  by  those  of  the 
earlier  war,  would  make  no  concessions  upon  which 
any  reliance  could  be  placed.  Nevertheless,  the  ma- 
jority of  Parliament  voted  for  concluding  peace  with 
him,  taking  action  which  would  have  restored  Charles 
at  once  to  the  throne,  possessed  of  a  power  which 
would  have  enabled  him  to  put  an  end  straightway 
to  those  who  had  upheld  freedom,  and  to  all  they 
had  fought  for.     To  secure  their  own  lives,  to  secure 


150  AXGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

what  was  more  precious  to  them  tlian  life,  the  popu- 
lar freedom  for  which  they  had  been  so  long  fighting, 
Pride's  Pur  e  ^^^^J  revolutionary  means  were  now  ade- 
quate :  Colonel  Pride  took  his  place  at  the 
door  of  St.  Stephen's  and  turned  out  one  hundred 
and  forty-three  members,  cutting  down  the  Long 
Parliament  into  the  famous  Rump,  in  which  none 
were  allowed  to  sit  but  those  who  accepted  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Army. 

As  to  Pride's  Purge,  it  is  hard  to  see,  at  the  present 
time,  what  other  course  it  was  possible  for  the  Army 
to  take  in  order  to  save  their  cause.  Nothing  can  be 
ireton'8  decia  ^^^r,  at  any  rate,  than  the  manifestoes  of 
rations.  Army  and   Rump   at   this   crisis,  for  the 

composition  of  which  Ireton  must  be  especially 
credited.  "  We  are  not,"  it  was  declared,  "  a  mer- 
cenary Army,  hired  to  serve  any  arbitrary  power  of 
the  state,  but  called  forth  and  conjured  by  the  several 
declarations  of  Parliament  to  the  defence  of  our  own 
and  the  People's  just  fights  and  liberties ;  and  so  we 
took  up  in  justice  and  conscience,  to  those  ends,  and 
are  resolved  ...  to  assert  and  vindicate  them  against 
all  arbitrary  power,  violence,  and  oppression,  and  all 
particular  interests  and  parties  whatsoever." 

What  were  the  ideas  with  wliicli  tliis  wonderful 
Rump,  still  the  Long  Parliament,  though  purged, 
began  its  career?  The  4th  of  January  may  be  set 
down  as  the  beginning  of  the  new  order  of  things. 
That  day,^  it  was  resolved  by  the  little  company  now 
left  in  the  great  emptiness  of  St.  Stephen's  —  for  not 
only  were  the  excluded  members  absent,  but  many 
timid  ones,  —  "  That  the  Commons  of  England  in  Par- 

1  Commons  Journal  (under  date). 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  151 

liament  assembled  do  declare,  that  the  People  are, 
under  God,  the  original  of  all  just  i)ower ;  and  do  also 
declare,  that  the  Commons  of  England  in  Parliament 
assembled,  being  chosen  by  and  representing  the 
People,  have  the  supreme  power  in  this  nation ;  and 
do  also  declare,  that  whatsoever  is  enacted  or  declared 
for  law,  by  the  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled, 
hath  the  force  of  a  law,  and  all  the  People  of  this 
nation  are  concluded  thereby,  although  the  consent 
and  concurrence  of  the  King  or  House  of  Peers  be 
not  had  thereto.'' 

A  declaration  was  received  from  the  Army  on 
January  loth,  the  day  the  charge  was  read  against 
the  King.  The  Army  urged:  ''  That  having  since  the 
end  of  the  last  war  waited  for  a  settlement  of  the 
peace  and  government  of  this  nation  :  and  having  not 
found  any  such  essayed  or  endeavored  b}'  those  whose 
proper  work  it  was,  but  their  many  addresses  and 
others  in  that  behalf,  rejected  and  opposed,  and  only 
a  corrupt  closure  endeavored  Avith  the  King  on  terms 
serving  only  to  his  interests  and  theirs  that  promoted 
it,  and  being  thereupon  .  .  .  necessitated  to  take  ex- 
traordinary ways  of  remedy,  — -  they  have  at  last  fin- 
ished the  draught  of  such  a  settlement  in  the  nature 
of  an  Ag-reement  of  the  People  for  peace 

.  .     .  The  Agree- 

among  themselves,  it  containing  the  best  mem  of  the 
and  most  hopeful  foundations  for  the  peace 
and  future  well  government  of  this  nation,  that  they 
can  possibly  devise.  And  they  appeal  to  the  con- 
sciences of  all  that  read  it,  to  witness  whether  they 
nave  therein  provided  or  propounded  anything  of  ad- 
vantage to  themselves  .  .  .  above  others,  or  aught  but 
what  is  as  good  for  one  as  for  another;  not  doubt- 


152  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

ing-  but  that  those  worthy  patriots  of  Parliament  will 
give  their  seal  of  aj^prohation  thereunto,  and  all  good 
people  with  them.  But  if  God  shall  suffer  the 
People  .  ..  to  be  so  blinded  ...  as  to  make  opposition 
thereto,  .  .  .  they  hope  they  shall  be  acquitted  before 
God  and  good  men  from  the  blame  of  any  furtlier 
troubles,  distractions,  and  miseries  to  the  kingdom, 
which  may  arise  through  the  neglect  and  rejection 
thereof." 

On  the  20th,  the  Agreement  of  the  People  ^  Avas 
formally  presented.  It  has  the  name  and  many  of 
the  ideas  of  the  manifesto  of  the  Agitators,  in  the 
fall  of  1647.  It  has  become  now  a  detailed  and 
definite  scheme  of  government  on  Avhich  we  can 
well  afford  to  dwell. 

In  1647,  Ireton,  to  Avhom  the  bold  and  masterly 
elaboration  was  for  the  most  part  due,  had  not  been 
ready  foi-  so  radical  a  step,  and  had  left  the  council 
abruptly,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  suggestion  of  laying 
by  the  King ;  but  in  the  Army  now,  rank  and  file 
and  chiefs  stood  together.  The  paper  consisted  of 
ten  articles.  The  1st  demands  the  dissolution  of  the 
present  Parliament  by  the  end  of  April,  1649.  The 
2d  assuming  that  the  supreme  power  in  England  is 
thenceforth  to  be  a  single  representative  House,  de- 
clares that  every  sucli  future  "  Representative  "  shall 
consist  of  four  hundred  members,  or  not  more,  and 
distributes  these,  with  great  care,  among  the  shires, 
cities,  and  boroughs  of  England  and  Wales.  York- 
shire is  to  send  twenty  members ;  Devonsliire,  seven- 
teen ;  Middlesex,  fourteen ;  Cornwall,  enormously 
over-represented   hitherto,   eight ;    and   so   until   we 

1  Gardiner :  Documents  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  p.  270. 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  153 

reach  the  small  counties  of  Rutland  and  Flint,  which 
have  but  one  each.  It  is  worth  while  to  specify 
to  some  extent  in  order  to  see  how  remarkably 
the  reforms  of  1832  were  anticipated.  The  3d  gives 
the  time  of  meeting  and  defines  the  qualifications 
of  the  electors  and  the  eligible.  All  men  of  full 
age  and  householders,  except  paupers,  and  (for  the 
first  seven  years)  armed  adherents  of  the  King  in 
the  late  wars,  are  to  be  the  electors.  The  eligible 
are  to  be  those  qualified  as  electors,  with  restrictions 
designed  to  keep  out  for  the  first  few  Parliaments 
the  King's  partisans.  The  4th  considers  the  matter 
of  a  quorum.  The  5th  is  very  important,  requiring 
every  Parliament,  within  twenty  days  of  its  first 
meeting,  to  appoint  a  Council  of  State,  to  be  the 
acting  ministry  or  government  in  co-operation  with 
itself,  and  also  in  the  interval,  between  it  and  the 
next  Parliament.  Passing  over  the  6th,  7th,  8th, 
as  relatively  unimportant,  in  the  9th  we  find  the 
relation  in  which  the  government  is  to  stand  to  the 
Church.  Christianity,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  the  per- 
manent national  religion :  Parliament  may  establish 
any  form  of  church  not  popish  or  prelatic ;  dis- 
senters are,  however,  to  be  tolerated  and  protected, 
the  liberty,  nevertheless,  not  "  necessarily  to  extend 
to  Popery  or  Prelacy."  The  10th  defines  treason  and 
indicates  what  in  the  preceding  articles  shall  be  held 
as  essential. 

Except  the  8th  article,  relating  to  the  religious 
establishment,  which,  judged  by  modern  ideas,  is 
narrow,  there  is  nothing  here  not  most  thoroughly 
reasonable.  Ireton  himself,  like  Cromwell  and  Vane, 
•yas  ready  for  the  broadest  toleration,  including  even 


154  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

Jews,  infidels,  and  Pagans  ;  but  even  in  the  Rump, 
there  were  prejudices  that  must  be  liumored.  On  the 
6th  of  February  it  was  resolved:  ^  "  That  the  House 
of  Peers  in  Parliament  is  useless  and  dangerous, 
and  ought  to  be  abolished,"  and  on  the  following 
day,  "  that  the  oiftce  of  King  ...  is  unnecessary, 
burdensome,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberty,  safety, 
and  public  interest  of  the  People  of  this  nation,  and 
therefore  ought  to  be  abolished."'  Tlie  old  order  was 
thus  completely  swept  away,  and  England  was  a 
itsanticipa-  RepubUc.  The  English  reforms  already 
enTreforml.  g'^^iiicd  iu  the  nineteenth  century,  and  still 
in  progress  at  the  present  hour,  were  all 
anticipated :  all,  too,  that  is  most  essential  in  the 
American  system  had  been  formulated.  The  great 
change  was  marked  by  the  execution  of  the  King, 
which  took  place  January  30,  1649." 

Thus  we  see  that  popular  government,  the  heritage 
from  the  ancient  Saxon  time,  seemed  likely  to  have 
in  the  days  of  the  Ironsides  a  most  complete  and 
memorable  revival.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  it  came 
about  as  something  into  which  people  were  forced, 
rather  than  something  which  they  voluntarily  cm- 
braced.  Eliot,  Pym,  and  Hampden  never  conceived 
for  England  of  a  polity  in  Avhich  King  and  Lords 
should  be  swept  away.  It  was  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  Army,  the  plain  people,  tlie  tradesmen  of  tlie 
towns ;  or  rather,  since  the  towns  in  great  majority 
became  Presbyterian,  it  was  the  small  farmers,  the 
yeomen,    from    whom    proceeded    the    lirst   assertion 

1  Commons  Journal  (under  date). 

^  The  precedinj?  .summary  is  taken  from  the  author's  life  of  Vane, 
Chapter  XIV,  wliich  see  for  fuller  details. 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMOX  WEALTH.  155 

of  a  complete  right  to  self-government.  Their  own 
leaders  at  first  held  back,  in  some  cases  denouncing 
so  thorough  a  sweep.  At  last,  however,  Cromwell, 
Ireton,  Vane,  and  Milton  stood  thoroughly  with  the 
men,  —  justifying  themselves  in  their  course  by  the 
belief  that  they  undertook  no  new  thing,  but  only 
restored  the  essentials  of  that  most  ancient  freedom 
that  had  been  so  deeply  overlaid.^  These  were  the 
principles  of  the  Independents,  —  the  Ironsides, 
namely,  and  the  Rump,  the  mutilated  Parliament 
which  represented  them  at  St.  Stephen's.  Did  the 
principles  take  effect. at  once? 

By  no  means.  All  Europe  was  against  the  Inde- 
pendents. Of  the  whole  English  nation,  they  could 
count  for  sympathy  only  upon  about  two-sevenths. 
The  remaining  five-sevenths  were  their  bitter  enemies. 
The  old  Cavaliers  preferred  to  freedom  the  despotism 
of  a  King ;  the  Anglicans  among  them  longed  for 
Prelacy  of  the  Laud  type ;  the  Catholics,  for  a 
hierarchy  of  the  Romish  model,  —  for  a  restoration  of 
the  monasteries,  a  displacing  of  all  Protestant  worship 
by  the  mass,  and  an  acknowledgment  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Pope.  The  Presbyterians  a])horred  the 
toleration  which  was  a  cardinal  principle  of  the  vic- 
tors, and  hungered  for  the  spiritual  despotism  of  the 
synod.  The  Army  and  the  Rump,  however,  hoped 
to  win  the  nation  to  their  view,  and  resolutely  went 
to  work  to  maintain  their  position  by  the  sword 
against  the  world  in  arms  on  every  side.  It  was  an 
absurd  ground,  in  a  certain  way,  which  they  occu- 
pied :  believers  in  the  fullest  freedom,  they  sought  to 
force    freedom  upon  men  who    would    rather    be    in 

1  See  the  writer's  "  Life  of  Vane,"  for  evidence  of  this. 


156  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

fetters.  They  were  in  their  own  hearts  greatly- 
troubled  by  the  situation.  Still  their  trouble  of  mind 
brought  no  paralysis,  and  they  entered  upon  a  career 
than  which  history  has  nothing  more  marvellous. 
Postponing  until  a  more  convenient  time  the  reor- 
ganization of  England,  according  to  the  Agree- 
ment of  the  People,  they  resolved  for  the  present 
„  to   retain   the   Rump,    ore^aniziuff    for   an 

Temporary  i  '  O  o 

government      executivc   a   Couucil   of   State  1  of  forty- 

or  the  Kump  J 

cii*^of  sta^e."°'  i^inie,  to  be  appointed  annually  by  Parlia- 
ment from  the  "  Honest  Party."  All 
recognized  this  government  as ,  nothing  but  an  oli- 
garchy, a  temporary  expedient  to  which  the  heavy 
pressure  of  a  difficult  hour  drove  them.  They  had 
sketched,  however,  the  general  scheme  of  a  far  dif- 
ferent constitution,  and  strove,  even  while  they  were 
fighting,  to  elaborate  all  the  details  so  that  it  might 
be  bestowed  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  upon  the 
nation,  if  they  could  ever  succeed  in  winning  the 
nation  to  adopt  their  views. 

The   active  enemies  of   the  Commonwealth  gave 
them  not  one  moment's  respite.     Whether  the  execu- 
tion of  Charles  was  an  unavoidable  neces- 

Embarrass-  ,  _^  n     i     t  i 

mentsofthe     sitv,    as  Cromwcii   belicved,  or   a   melan- 

Independeuts. 

choly  blunder  oi  the  "  Honest  Party,  as 
Vane  thought,  it  is  even  now  impossible  to  decide. 
At  any  rate,  it  had  this  effect.  The  Cavaliers,  every- 
where horrified,  were  immensely  stimulated  in  their 
desire  to  crush  the  men  that  had  so  far  foiled  them ; 
and  thousands  who  had  before  been  lukewarm,  or 
indeed,  had  fought  zealously  in  jirevious  years  for  the 
cause  of  the  Houses,  now  ranged  themselves  among 

1  Gardiner  :  Documents  of  tlie  Puritan  Revolution,  p.  291. 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  157 

the  Royalists.  Luckily  for  the  Commonwealth,  its 
enemies  were  at  ill  accord  among  themselves.  Cath- 
olic, Anglican,  and  Presbyterian  could  not  cordially 
join.  The  odds,  however,  against  the  Commonwealth 
were  tremendous,  to  be  coped  with  only  by  the  most 
consummate  generalship  and  statecraft,  combined 
with  the  most  dauntless  courage. 

At  once,  Cromwell  with  twelve  thousand  men  was 
thrown  upon  Ireland,  where  the  Duke  of  Ormond, 
uniting  all  factions,  presented  a  front  full  cro^^e,,  jq 
of  danger.  The  sword  has  never  done  ii'eiand. 
work  more  sharp  and  swift.  The  strait  for  the  Com- 
monwealth was  desperate,  and  desperate  and  bloody 
was  the  wrestle  as  it  threw  itself  upon  its  foe.  Vic- 
tory was  complete,  and  Cromwell  was  soon  at  home 
for  other  work,  and  none  too  soon.  The  young  King, 
Charles  II,  had  meantime  landed  in  Scotland;  had 
taken  the  covenant,  in  that  way  winning  the  enthusi- 
astic support  of  the  North,  which  before  had,  to  a 
man,  been  horror-stricken  by  the  execution  of  Charles 
I ;  and  now,  at  the  head  of  the  whole  power  of 
Scotland,  was  preparing  to  win  his  father's  throne. 
Prompt  as  the  powers  of  fate,  the  Ironsides  faced  him. 
They  did  not  await  the  coming  of  the  enemy,  but 
rushed  north  to  strike  them  in  their  own  territory,  if 
possible,  unprepared.  Never,  during  his  whole  career, 
did  Cromwell  confront  a  host  so  dangerous  as 
during  August,  1650.  It  outnumbered  his  own 
more  than  two  to  one ;  the  hearts  of  the  Scots,  among 
the  bravest  of  men,  were  thoroughly  in  their  cause ; 
their  leader,  David  Leslie,  was  the  boldest  and  at  the 
same  time  the  wariest  soldier  whom  the  world  in  that 
age  could  have  sent  against  him.    By  skilful  manoeu- 


158  ANGLO-SAXON   FREJ:D0M. 

vring  the  Scots  brought  Cromwell  to  the  verge  of 
destruction.  For  a  month,  there  was  not  a  mistake, 
not  an  opportunity  which  could  be  used.  Cromwell 
was  penned  into  a  little  corner  by  the  sea,  his  men 
fast  sickening  about  him,  his  hope  all  but  extinct. 
Just  here  the  mistake  was  made.  The  opportunity 
was  instantly  seized,  and  out  of  it  came  the  almost 
miraculous  victory  of  Dunbar,  where,  with  a  loss  of 
not  more  than  thirty  Ironsides,  three  thousand  Scots 
were  left  for  dead,  ten  thousand  captured,  and  the 
rest  driven  in  complete  rout.  Any  but  Scots  would 
have  been  utterly  overthrown.  They,  however,  rallied 
and  recruited  with  the  truest  grit ;  then  while  Crom- 
well in  an  unguarded  moment  was  pressing  on  their 
flank,  they  rushed  for  England,  raising  the  country 
as  they  went,  and  not  halting  until  they  reached  the 
Midlands.     At  Worcester,  however,  all  was 

Worcester. 

over  for  them,  and  so  far  as  Great  Britain 
was  concerned,  not  a  hand  could  longer  be  raised 
against  the  Commonwealth.  But  it  remained  to 
teach  Europe  how  formidable  the  new  power  had 
War  with  becomc.  The  ocean  war  with  Holland  fol- 
HoUand.  lowcd,  in  which,  with  Vane  as  administrator 
and  Blake  to  marshal  the  fleets,  England  first  won  the 
empire  of  the  seas.     Every  foe  was  at  last  crushed. 

Why,  therefore,  could  not  the  Commonwealth  be 
now  established  according  to  the  plan  of  the  Agree- 
ment of  the  People  ?  In  spite  of  the  victories,  the 
people  had  not  been  won;  neither  Rump  nor  Army 
dared  to  give  the  nation  to  itself ;  master  of  itself, 
there  was  sure  to  be  on  the  part  of  the  nation  a  sur- 
render presently  into  the  hands  of  the  old  tyranny. 
Just  here  came  another  of  the  series  of  momentous 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMOXWEALTH.  159 

schisms  that  mark  the  history  of  this  disturbed  time. 
As  the  polyp,  attaining  a  fair  size,  having  encoun- 
tered an  obstacle,  suddenly  bisects  itself,  the  divisions 
proceeding  afterward  on  their  way,  or  drifting  into 
antagonism  with  one  another,  each  a  living  organism 
independent  within  itself,  ready  to  undergo  at  any 
moment  new  bisection, — so  does  the  political  party 
proceed  in  its  development.  England  at  the  opening 
of  the  Long  Parliament  suddenly  became  Cavalier  and 
Roundhead;  the  Roundheads,  triumphing,  presently 
became  Presbyterian  and  Independent ;  the  Independ- 
ents having  gained  the  day,  it  was  now  their  turn  to 
split.  The  cleavage  came,  and  at  the  heads  of  the  sev- 
ered portions  stood  respectively  Vane  and 

/-I  n         -kT    ■   1  f  1        1  Schism  among 

Cromwell.     JN  either  lelt  that  a  settlement  the  independ- 

entB. 

could  be  left  to  a  Parliament  freely  elected : 
if  any  advantage  was  to  remain  from  the  triumphs  so 
painfully  won  over  encroaching  prerogative  and  priv- 
ilege, the  champions  who  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the 
fight  must  retain  a  guiding  power.  The  plan  which 
Vane  favored  was  to  cause  a  new  Parliament  to  be 
elected ;  but  the  Rump  was  to  judge  as  to  the  suita- 
bility of  the  members  returned,  and  each  member  of 
the  Rump  was  to  have  a  seat  in  the  new  assembly. 
This  function  of  the  Rump  was  to  be  only  a  tempo- 
rary makeshift,  to  be  discarded  at  the  earliest  possi- 
ble moment.  To  no  one  was  such  a  limitation  more 
repugnant  than  to  the  freedom-loving  Vane ;  but 
only  in  this  way,  in  his  judgment,  in  the  stress  of 
that  disturbed  time,  could  it  be  made  certain  that 
England  would  not  go  back  to  the  Stuarts.  Crom- 
well felt,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Rump  must  be 
no   longer   tolerated:    that,  at  any  rate,  must   give 


160  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

way ;  and  if  England  could  not  yet  be  trusted  with 
its  own  freedom,  he  would  himself,  with  a  council  of 
officers,  "  play  the  constable  "  and  see  that  order  was 
preserved  until  tlie  better  time  should  arrive.  So 
Dissolution  of  Came  April  20,  1653,  when  Cromwell, 
the  Rump.  having  tumcd  out  the  members  of  the 
Rump  and  locked  behind  them  the  door  of  St. 
Stephen's,  entered  upon  his  constal^le's  Avork  which 
was  to  last  through  five  famous  years. 

"  The  day  never  came  when  Cromwell  felt  he  could 
cease  to  be  a  despot.  With  almost  miraculous  ability 
The  autocracy  ^'^  sustaiucd  himsclf,  —  ability  no  more  con- 
of  Cromwell,  gpicuous  lu  dealing  with  foreign  and  open 
enemies,  than  against  the  constant  plots  of  secret 
foes.  His  old  mother  at  Whitehall  shivered  when- 
ever she  heard  the  report  of  a  gun,  or  an  unusual 
crash,  through  fear  that  some  assassin  had  at  length 
found  the  heart  of  her  son ;  —  and  it  was  no  foolish 
fear !  He  tried  repeatedly  to  surrender  the  nation 
into  the  hands  of  its  own  representatives  sitting  in 
Parliament :  each  time,  however,  there  had  been  a 
questioning  of  matters  which  he  thought  should  not 
be  touched,  and  so  each  time,  at  the  autocratic  word, 
St.  Stephen's  had  emptied  itself,  leaving  all  to  the 
Protector's  sword.  He  put  aside  the  title  of  King, 
but  a  rule  more  absolute  than  that  of  au}^  English 
King  prevailed.  Dividing  England  into  military  dis- 
tricts over  each  of  which  he  set  a  major-general,  a  grim 
Ironside,  whose  sword  was  absolute,  he  ruled  with  an 
unconstitutional  tyranny  compared  with  which  that 
of  the  Stuarts  was  mere  chihrs  play,  —  no  more  arbi- 
trary, hoAvever,  than  it  was  l)eneticent,  as  potent  to 
beckon  into  life  all  things  gi'cat  and  good,  as  it  was 


THE   ENGLISH   COMMONWEALTH.  IGl 

to  dasli  into  ruin  all  things  that  made  for  ill.  Who 
that  follows  that  wonderful  career,  that  reads  those 
letters  ^  and  speeches,  stammering,  incoherent,  will 
abate  a  word  from  ]Milton's  great  panegyric  ? 

"  '  He  was  a  soldier  disciplined  to  perfection  in  a 
knowledge  of  himself.  He  had  either  extinguished 
or  by  habit   had   learned   to    subdue    the   xri„„„.„  „_„ 

J  Siilton  s  pane- 

whole  host  of  vain  hopes,  fears,  and  pas-  ^^'"'^• 

sions  which  invest  the  soul.  He  first  acquired  the 
government  of  himself  ...  so  that  on  the  first  day 
he  took  the  field  against  the  external  enemy,  he  was 
a  veteran  in  arms.  .  .  .  The  whole  surface  of  the 
British  empire  has  been  the  theatre  of  his  triumphs. 
The  good  and  the  brave  were  from  all  quarters  at- 
tracted to  his  camp,  not  only  as  to  the  best  school  of 
military  talents,  but  of  piety  and  virtue.  His  soldiers 
were  a  stay  to  the  good,  a  terror  to  the  evil,  and  the 
warmest  advocates  for  every  exertion  of  piety  and 
virtue.  While  you,  O  Cromwell,  are  left  among  us, 
he  hardly  shows  a  proper  confidence  in  the  Supreme, 
who  distrusts  the  security  of  England.  We  all  will- 
ingly yield  the  palm  of  sovei-eignty  to  your  unrivalled 
ability  and  virtue,  except  the  few  among  us  who  do 
not  know  that  nothing  in  the  world  is  more  pleasing 
to  God  than  that  the  supreme  power  should  be  vested 
in  the  best  and  the  wisest  of  men.  Such,  O  Crom- 
well, all  acknowledge  you  to  be  ;  such  are  the  ser- 
vices which  you  have  rendered  as  the  leader  of  our 
councils,  the  general  of  our  armies,  and  the  father  of 
your  country.  Continue  your  course  with  the  same 
unrivalled  magnanimity':  it  sits  well  upon  you.  To 
you  our  country  owes  its  liberties,  nor  can  you  sus- 

1  See  Carlyle's  Cromwell. 


162  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

tain  a  character  at  once  more  momentous  and  more 
august  than  that  of  the  author,  the  guardian,  and  the 
preserver  of  our  liberties.  Hence  you  have  not  only 
eclipsed  the  achievements  of  all  our  Kings,  but  even 
those  which  have  been  fabled  of  our  heroes.'  "  ^ 

When  at  last  his  mighty  hand  relaxed,  nothing 
was  possible  but  the  Restoration.  The  world  was  in 
truth  not  yet  ready .^ 

"  Thus  ended,  apparently  in  simple  catastrophe,  the 
enterprise  of  projecting  into  sudden  reality  the  im- 
Beneflts  se-  pulsc  of  Spiritual  freedom.  Its  only  result, 
Eulilsh^Revo-  '"IS  it  might  seem,  had  been  to  prevent  the 
transition  of  the  feudal  into  an  absolute 
monarchy,  and  thus  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  plu- 
tocracy under  feudal  forms  which  has  governed  Eng- 
land since  the  death  of  William  III.  This,  however, 
is  but  a  suj^erficial  view.  Two  j^alpable  benefits  the 
short  triumph  of  Puritanism  did  win  for  England. 
It  saved  it  from  the  Catholic  reaction,  and  it  created 
the  dissenting  bodies.  The  fifteen  years  of  vigorous 
growth  which  Cromwell's  SAvord  secured  for  the 
church  of  the  sectaries,  gave  it  a  permanent  fcn'ce 
which  no  reaction  could  suppress,  and  which  has 
since  been  the  great  spring  of  political  life  in  Eng- 
land." 3 

1  Defensio  Secunda  pro  Populo  Anglicano  (translation).  See  Life  of 
Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  Y>p.  414,  454,  455. 

2  Gnei.st:  Ge.schichte  und  heutige  Gestalt  der  Aeniter  in  England, 
p.  22(),  etc. 

3  Thomas  Hill  Green:  Lectures  on  the  English  Commonwealth. 
Works,  HI,  pp.  oGo,  304. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.  163 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE   EEVOLUTION   OF   1688. 

Charles  n,  1660.  William  and  Mary,  1689. 

James  II,  1685.  Anne,  1702. 

The  Commonwealth  went  down  after  its  brave 
struggle  to  establish  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  a 
reaction  began  which  went  to  great  ex-  TheReBtora- 
tremes.  Charles  II  returned  in  the  midst  *'°°" 
of  enthusiasm  so  excessive  that  the  stern  Republicans 
who  for  some  glorious  years  had  had  all  things  in 
their  hands,  were  completely  silenced.  The  new 
King,  like  his  father  and  grandfather,  was  ready  to 
claim  high  prerogatives,  but  his  subjects  showed 
a  subserviency  that  surprised  him.  Foremost  in 
loyal  zeal  stood  the  clergy  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
which  came  back  over  the  temporary  wreck  of 
Presbyterianism  and  Independency,  into  a  power 
greater  than  ever  before.  What  were  the  Rg^gtion  f^om 
claims  of  James  I  and  the  Royalists  at  the  ||J^  comm^in- 
beginning  of  the  century,  we  have  already  ^^*^'^- 
noted.^  These  doctrines  of  absolutism,  during  the 
time  of  the  Commonwealth  so  thoroughly  repudiated, 
came  at  the  Restoration  again  to  the  surface  in  forms 
more  marked  than  ever.  Every  Anglican  pulpit,  — 
and  no  other  pulpits  were  now  tolerated,  —  taught 
with  the  strongest  emphasis  the  divine  right  of  kings. 
Writers  arose  who  undertook  to  show  that  Magna 

1  pp.  104,  105. 


164  AXGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

Charta  itself  and  every  constitutional  law  were  rebel- 
lious encroachments  on  the  ancient,  imprescriptible 
prerogatives  of  the  monarchy. ^  The  theories  of  a 
certain  Sir  Robert  Filmer  were  especially  in  vogue, 
according  to  which  the  King  stood  above  all  law. 
He  taught  that  the  Supreme  Being  regarded  heredi- 
tary monarchy  with  peculiar  favor.  No  human 
power,  no  length  of  adverse  possession,  could  deprive 
a  legitimate  prince  of  his  right:  his  authority  must  of 
necessity  be  despotic ;  the  laws  by  which  his  prerog- 
atives were  limited  were  merely  concessions  of  the 
King  which  he  might  at  any  time  revoke :  any  treaty 
which  he  might  make  with  his  subjects  Avas  simply  a 
declaration  of  his  present  intentions,  and  not  at  all  a 
contract  the  performance  of  which  might  be  required.^ 
The  theme  which  the  clergy  insisted  on  beyond  every 
other  was  "non-resistance,"  — that  nothing  whatever 
in  the  way  of  crime  or  folly  committed  by  a  legiti- 
mate prince,  could  justify  subjects  in  rebelling.  He 
might  be  imbecile  or  as  cruel  as  Nero,  but  his  will 
must  be  done.  Charles  was  ready  to  claim  much,  but 
the  Church  accorded  to  him  even  more  than  lie  would 
have  claimed.  Extravagant,  however,  though  the 
Church  was  in  its  loyalty,  the  temper  of  the  majority, 
as  reflected  in  Parliament,  bore  it  fully  out. 

The  student  of  history  is  disposed  to  think  some- 
times that  tlie  true  benefactors  of  mankind  have  been 
the   knaves    and   fools,    rather   than    men 
ins;  fiom  the     good    aud  wisc.      What   brought    to    pass 

bad  cliiiiatters  ^  p      t    i 

of  Charles  11     Maofua   C  liarta  was   the   villany  oi    John. 

and  James  II.  ^  , .  ^ 

Tlie  work  of  Simon  de  ^Nlontfort  was  pre- 

1  Hallam:  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  439. 

2  Macaulay  :  History  of  Euj^laud,  I,  j).  55. 


THE   REVOLUTIOX   UF   IGSS.  165 

pared  by  the  abuses  suffered  through  the  weak 
Henry  III.  Headstrong  Richard  H  made  a  way 
for  the  constitutional  rule  of  the  Lancastrians.  So 
now  it  must  be  said  that  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  was  saved  only 
through  the  circumstance  that  the  two  Stuart  kings 
were  utterly  unworthy  men,  —  Charles  II,  a  selfish, 
frivolous  voluptuary;  James  II,  a  cruel  and  stupid 
bigot.  What  if  the  occupant  of  the  throne  during 
this  mood  of  subserviency  into  which  the  people  had 
so  largely  sunk,  had  been  a  ruler  really  good  and 
gifted,  —  a  Charlemagne,  a  Louis  IX  of  France,  a 
Frederick  II ;  —  or  indeed  some  one  of  the  heroes 
of  the  English  line,  arbitrary  but  masterful,  —  a 
William  the  Conqueror,  the  second  or  even  the 
eighth  Henr}^  or  Elizabeth?  It  must  be  believed 
that  in  such  a  case  the  fire  of  freedom  would  have 
become  extinguished.  It  was  the  abuse  of  power 
only,  by  Sovereigns  vicious  and  incapable,  that 
brought  the  people  to  their  senses. 

As  the  reign  of  Charles  proceeded,  liis  private 
character  grew  constantly  worse ;  as  he  sank  him- 
self, his  example  drew  his  court  more  and 

.,.  --  1P1  1       •  '^^^  nation 

more  deepiv  into  the  slough  oi  brutal  vice,  forced  into 

TT-  1  1-     "     T  1  1  T     T  •  resistance. 

His  public  policy,  also,  plunged  the  nation 
into  ever-increasing  disgrace.  He  sold  himself  to 
Louis  XIV,  engaging  the  power  of  his  kingdom  to 
aid  the  selfish  schemes  of  France.  He  forsook  his 
best  friends,  the  bishops  and  priests  of  the  established 
Church,  offering  for  a  bribe  to  become  a  Catholic, 
and  dying  at  last  in  the  profession  of  tliat  faith. 
James  II  came  to  the  throne  an  avowed  Catholic. 
Though  his  faith  was  abhorrent,  the  Anglican  Church 


166  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

in  a  mass,  many  of  the  nobles,  and  the  great  majority 
of  the  country  gentry,  were  at  first  ready  to  be 
consistent;  they  adhered  to  the  doctrine  of  non- 
resistance  and  let  the  new  King  do  his  will.  But 
every  day  it  grew  plainer  that  James  could  not  be 
endured.  His  chosen  instruments  were  Jeffreys  of 
the  Bloody  Assizes,  Kirk  and  his  "lambs,"  and  in 
Scotland,  Grahame  of  Claverhouse,  —  torturers  and 
executioners,  who  beneath  the  King's  very  eyes 
applied  the  thumb-screw  and  the  boot,  and  multi- 
plied everywhere  the  gibbet  and  scaffold,  till  mercy 
and  reason  seemed  about  to  flee  from  the  world. 
Abuses  and  cruelties  stung  the  nation  to  resistance. 

Though  the  work  of  the  great  Long  Parliament 
had  appeared  to  be  utterly  discredited  and  over- 
thrown, it  began  to  be  plain  that  certain  important 
things  had  been  after  all  established.  Subservient 
though  the  people  had  seemed,  and  unprincipled 
though  the  two  royal  brothers  were,  yet  no  effort 
liad  been  made  to  set  up  again  the  Star  Chamber 
and  High  Commission  Courts.  It  was  clear  that 
no  such  illegality  as  the  ship-money  extortion  could 
again  be  attempted.  It  was  recognized  that  the 
constitution  must  be  that  of  1642 ;  all  the  acts  of 
the  Long  Parliament  which  had  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  King  Charles  I  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War,  were  admitted.^  A  sufficient  number 
had  become  so  sick  of  absolutism  as  to  make  jjossible 
The  Bill  of  ^^^^^  statement  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
Kights.  ciples    of    the    constitution    contained   in 

the  instrument  known  as  the  Declaration  of  Rights. 
It  was  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which  the  illus- 

1  Macaulay  :  History  of  Enslaud,  I,  p.  119. 


THE   REVOLUTIOX   OF   1G88.  167 

trious  Somers  was  chairman.  It  began  by  recapit- 
ulating the  crimes  and  errors  which  had  made  a 
revolution  necessary.  James  had  invaded  the  prov- 
ince of  the  legislature,  had  treated  modest  petition- 
ing as  a  crime,  had  oppressed  the  Church  by  means 
of  an  illegal  tribunal,  had,  without  consent  of  the 
Parliament,  levied  taxes  and  maintained  a  standing 
army  in  time  of  peace,  had  violated  the  freedom  of 
election,  and  perverted  the  course  of  justice.  The 
Lords  and  Commons  once  more  in  Parliament  asserted 
the  ancient  rights  and  liberties  of  England ;  the  dis- 
pensing power  had  no  legal  existence ;  no  money  was 
to  be  exacted  without  grant  of  Parliament ;  the  right 
of  subjects  to  petition,  of  electors  to  choose  repre- 
sentatives, of  Parliament  to  free  debate,  of  the  nation 
to  a  pure  and  merciful  administration  of  justice,  — 
all  these  were  solemnly  affirmed.  The  Declaration 
of  Rights,  made  law  by  Parliament,  became  the  Bill 
of  Rights.!    James  was  deposed,  and  Mary, 

,.  ,,  •11  11111      Accession  of 

his  daughter,  with  lier  able  husband,  wiiuamand 
AVilliam,  Prince  of  Orange,  became  King 
and  Queen  of  England.  Both  were  Stuarts ;  for 
William,  as  well  as  his  wife,  was  a  grandchild  of 
Charles  I.  Both,  however,  were  sturdily  Protestant, 
decent  in  their  lives,  and  personages  of  sense  and 
strength.  "With  William  and  ]Mary  began  for  Eng- 
land a  better  time. 

To  appreciate  the  momentous  character  of  the  Rev- 
olution of  1688,  a  glance  must  be  cast  at  the  condition 
of   other  civilized  countries  at   that  dav. 

_,  n        •  1X11  1  •     "        Extinction  of 

t  ranee,  bpam,  and  italv,  though  nations  liberty  on  the 

f    T       •  111  "-i-i  1        continent. 

01  Latin  stock,  had  received  m  tlie  early 
1  See  Appendix  C  for  the  full  text. 


168  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

centuries  of  tlie  Christian  era  a  strong  Teutonic  infu- 
sion, and  at  one  time  had  possessed,  as  we  have  seen, 
institutions  characterized  to  some  extent  by  the  same 
Teutonic  freedom  whicli  had  gone  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  to  the  ishxnd  of  Britain.^  In  Germany  and 
Scandinavia  the  stock  was  more  purely  Teutonic, 
and  in  those  lands  the  polity  of  the  forefathers  had 
long  endured.  Russia,  though  Slavic,  was  at  any 
rate  Aryan,  and  her  people  possessed  in  the  mir  a 
village  community  as  marked  in  its  independence  as 
the  tuns  and  burhs  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  In  all 
these  countries,  however,  the  traces  of  popular  free- 
dom had  long  been  effaced.  The  old  national  assem- 
blies in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy  had  nearly  or 
quite  disaj^peared.  The  perishing  of  liberty  under 
the  blight  of  despots  had  been  in  Germany  and  the 
northern  lands  even  more  complete  ;  in  Russia,  the 
local  self-government  had  proved  utterly  sterile  as 
regards  resources  for  coping  with  the  greed  of  tyrants. 
Only  in  Switzerland  there  smouldered  in  valleys 
almost  inaccessible  the  embers  of  freedom,  by  the 
great  world  unnoticed  and  indeed  unknown.  Hol- 
land, to  be  sure,  had  wrenched  itself  from  the  grasp 
of  Spain,  but  had  fallen  apparently  into  the  hands  of 
an  oligarchy.  Througliout  Europe  the  right  of  the 
great  to  make  laws  and  levy  taxes  was  undisputed ; 
thrones  wei'C  guarded  hy  regular  armies  ;  the  prom})t 
penalties  for  any  criticism  of  the  rulers  were  the  dun- 
geon and  the  scaffold.  Asfain  and  aofain  the  same 
calamity  had  been  imminent  over  England.  But  for 
Langton  and  the  Barons,  in  1215,  what  might  not 
John  have  done?     Had  factious  nobles  pressed  less 

1  p.  62. 


THE   REVOLUTIOX   OF   1688.  169 

heavily  upon  the  Lancastrians,  coukl  the  noble  con- 
stitutional programme  described  by  Fortescue  ever 
have  become  real?  Had  the  Tudors  dared  a  little 
more,  or  had  the  one  man  Strafford  not  been  taken 
from  the  right  hand  of  Charles  I,  where  could  free- 
dom have  harbored  ?  These  crises,  as  Ave  have  seen, 
had  all  been  safely  passed.  With  the  promulgation 
of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the  crisis  of  1688  was  also 
safely  passed. 

The  deposition  of  James  II  stands  in  history  under 
the  name  of  a  revolution :  it,  however,  was  a  strictly 
defensive  movement,  having  on  its  side  Revolution 
prescription  and  legitimacy. ^  The  mon-  "^^^^^• 
archy  as  limited  in  the  thirteenth  century  had  come 
down  to  the  seventeenth  century.  Parliament  had 
behind  it  a  past  of  four  hundred  years.  The  consti- 
tution was  not  formulated,  but  its  principles,  scat- 
tered throughout  time-honored  statutes,  were  en- 
graven on  the  hearts  of  Englishmen.  No  one  of  its 
principles  was  based  upon  precedents  more  ancient 
or  more  frequent,  than  that  Kings  reigned  by  a  right 
in  no  respect  differing  from  that  by  whicli  knights-of- 
the-shire  exercised  authority  in  behalf  of  their  con- 
stituents.^ The  Bill  of  Rights  simply  affirmed  this 
principle.  Not  a  single  new  right  was  given  to  the 
people ;  the  whole  body  of  English  law  was  un- 
changed ;  all  was  conducted  in  obedience  to  the 
ancient  formalities.  The  Revolution  of  1688  decided 
that  the  popular  element  in  tlie  English  polity,  of 
such  ajicient  derivation,  so  often  brought  very  low 
and  yet  never  extinguished,  should  once  more  sur- 
vive.    In  1688,  the  old  land  in  this  struggle  against 

1  Macaulay :  History  of  England,  I,  p.  514,  etc.         2  pj^i.,  p.  2IG. 


170  ANGLO-SAXON    FREEDOM. 

autocracy  wliicli  we  have  seen  so  often  renewed,  for 
the  hist  time  stood  alone.  When  next  the  conflict 
was  joined,  forces  were  to  appear  from  a  new  hemi- 
sphere. Tlie  time  was  now  not  far  off  when  popuhir 
liberty  was  to  start  up  into  a  life  no  longer  environed 
by  perils,  but  clearly  revealed  as  destined  for  the 
dominion  of  the  world. 

For  many  years  after  1688,  it  seemed  most  doubt- 
ful whether  the  principles  of  the  Revolution  could  be 
Whigs  and  maintained.  Two  great  parties,  the  Tories 
Tories.  ^^-^^  ^^le  Wliigs,  comiug  into  existence  at  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  have  persisted 
uncliauffed  in  name  and  in  gfeneral  characteristics 
until  the  present  day.  The  Tories  accepted  the  doc- 
trine of  the  divine  riglit  of  Kings ;  and  when  con- 
sistent, were  ready  to  obey  a  Herod  or  a  Caligula, 
if  only  he  were  in  the  legitimate  line ;  and  to 
depose  an  Alfred,  if  he  had  come  to  power  through 
any  irregularity  in  the  succession.  To  the  Tories 
belonged,  first  of  all  in  zeal,  the  Anglican  clergy 
with  all  whom  they  could  influence,  many  of  the 
great  nobles,  and  a  great  majority  of  the  country 
gentry.  A  great  part  of  the  Tories  were  at  first 
ready  even  to  sustain  such  a  sovereign  as  James, 
though  in  the  end  a  sufficient  number  Avere  so  far  es- 
tranged through  his  attacks  on  the  Church  and  tlie 
constitution,  as  to  make  possible  his  deposition.  The 
principle  of  the  Whigs,  on  the  other  hand,  was  that 
the  King  was  the  creature  and  servant  of  the  nation, 
which  could  justly  set  liim  aside  if  he  were  wicked  or 
neglectful ;  the  supreme  power  rested  with  Parlia- 
ment.    The  hopes  of  freedom,  of  course,  were  bound 


THE   REVOLUTIOX   OF    1G88.  171 

up  with  the  success  of  the  Whigs,  whose  strengtli  lay 
in  a  certain  proportion  of  the  higher  aristocracy ;  in 
what  was  left  of  the  yeomanry,  unfortunately  now 
fast  diminishing  in  number ;  and  in  the  commercial 
classes,  who  had  become  immensely  important.  As 
all  over  whom  Anglicanism  had  power  were  almost 
necessarily  Tories,  so  all  non-conformists  were  almost 
necessarily  Whigs.  The  commercial  classes  and  the 
non-conformists  were,  to  a  large  extent,  important 
one  and  the  same,  —  a  statement  which  per-  fhe  n^n^con^^ 
haps  may  be  said  to  have  a  general  appli-  com'mJrctai'^ 
cation.  "  Trade  is  most  vigorously  carried  '='^**^*- 
on  in  every  state  and  government  by  the  heterodox 
part  of  the  same,  and  such  as  profess  opinions  differ- 
ent from  what  are  publicly  established."  Lecky, 
quoting  this  remark  from  the  "  Political  Arithmetic  " 
of  Sir  William  Petty,^  ascribes  what  he  believes  to  be 
a  fact,  partly  to  the  accessibility  of  town  populations 
to  new  ideas,  and  partly  to  persecuting  laws  which,  in 
the  Stuart  days,  divorced  dissenters  from  the  soil  and 
drove  them  to  shop,  work-bench,  and  ship.  Among 
the  manufacturers  and  traders  of  England  now  also 
were  many  of  foreign  stock.  Thousands 
of  skilled  artisans,  expatriated  as  heretics   nots  and  other 

refugees. 

from  Catholic  lands,  had  gone  into  exile. 
Spain  and  France  thus  experienced  a  loss  from  which 
they  have  never  recovered ;  while  Germany,  Holland, 
and  England  received  arts  before  unknown  among 
them,  and  an  accession  of  the  finest  manhood.  No 
country  owes  more  to  her  toleration  than  England.^ 
For  nearly  two  hundred  years,  a  stream  poured  in  of 
the  best  continental  types,  —  Dutch,  French,  German, 

1  History  of  the  XVIIIth  Century,  I,  p.  203.        ^  Ibid.,  p.  206,  etc. 


172  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

and,  after  Cromwell,  Jewish,  —  until  the  commercial 
classes  were  thoroughly  pervaded  by  them.  About 
1700,  there  were  in  London  thirty-five  Huguenot 
churches,  and  many  elsewhere.  The  hospitality  of 
the  native  English,  indeed,  to  strangers  has  been  far 
enough  from  generous.  Chaucer  commemorates  the 
hostility  of  the  common  people  of  his  time  to  the 
Flemings ;  ^  and  long  after  the  fourteenth  century, 
many  an  industrious  alien  lost  home  and  even  life  in 
riots  born  of  jealousy.  Usually,  however,  worthy 
immigrants  could  find  foot-hold  and  thrive :  if  par- 
ents suffered,  the  children  grew  thoroughly  into  Eng- 
lish speech  and  ways,  while  inheriting  skill  and 
industrious  habits  that  had  come  from  beyond  sea. 
Such  refugees,  especially  numerous  after  the  Revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  threw  their  influence  to 
a  man,  on  the  side  of  the  Whigs :  their  persecutions 
came  from  Kings  who  were  friends  and  allies  of  the 
Stuarts :  what  patience  could  they  have  with  the 
idea  of  the  divine  right  ?  To  a  man,  also,  the  refugees 
became  non-conformists ;  for  aside  from  the  Toryism 
of  the  establishment,  what  attraction  could  a  church 
so  near  in  its  constitution  and  rites  to  the  Cathol- 
icism they  loathed,  possess  for  men  so  strongly  Prot- 
estant ! 

At  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Whigs 
were  full  of  ability  and  energy,  and  it  was  all  required 
Doubtful  ^^^  ^-'^®  battle  to  be  waged.  The  Tories 
twefn  w^tgg  were  powerful  and  probably  in  the  majority, 
and  Tones.  ^^^^  would  havc  SO  far  prevailed  as  to  over- 
whelm the  cause  of  the  peo})le  but  for  a  fortunate 
chain  of  circumstances.     AVilliam  and  Mary,  the  only 

1  Nonnes  Prestes  Tale. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.  173 

man  and  the  only  woman  of  the  evil  line  proceeding 
from  Darnley  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  have 
possessed  real  character  and  ability,  died  without 
issue.  By  a  happy  chance,  the  Pretender,  the  alleged 
son  of  James  II,  weak  and  vicious  in  all  his  qualities, 
and  rigidly  Catholic,  was  of  doubtful  birth.  There 
was  reason  for  believing  that  he  had  been  a  suppositi- 
tious child,  and  this  suspicion  under  which  he  lay 
prevented  the  zealous  action  of  the  Tory  disposition. 
Could  it  have  been  made  certain  that  the  Pretender 
was  a  Stuart,  there  were  enough  upholders  of  the 
doctrine  of  divine  right  to  carry  him  triumphantly 
into  power,  though  the  worthlessness  of  the  line  had 
proved  to  be  so  inveterate.  The  death  of  Anne  was 
a  crisis  about  which  the  lover  of  freedom  must  read 
even  now  with  bated  breath.  The  Protestant  suc- 
cession prevailed,  but  barely  so.  A  race  of  princes, 
the  house  of  Brunswick,  came  in,  of  no  mark,  to  be 
sure,  either  as  to  virtues  or  gifts,  but  at  least  they 
were  pledged  to  constitutional  rule.  The  right  of 
Parliament  was  not  to  be  questioned,  and  the  idea  of 
the  jus  divinum  began  to  decline.  As  time  passed, 
the  landed  gentry,  and  in  a  great  degree  the  clergy, 
became  reconciled  to  the  Hanoverians.  In  1745, 
when  for  the  last  time  a  Stuart  made  an  effort  to  gain 
the  English  crown,  his  partisans,  few  and  without 
spirit,  were  suppressed. 

With  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Eng- 
lish political  forms  as  we  know  them  at  the  present 
liour,  were  clearlv  a])]:)arent.    It  had  become   EstabUsb- 

"  ,  ment  of  mod- 

hxed  that  the  sui)reme  power  in  the  state   em  forms  in 

_  ^  tbe  Englisb 

was  Parliament ;  in  Parliament  stood  over   polity, 
against  each  other  the  two  great  parties  of  Whigs 


174  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

and  Tories,  the  power  shifting  now  to  one,  now  to  the 
other.  Parliament  had  taken  to  itself,  in  addition 
to  the  legislative  function,  the  executive  function  as 
well ;  a  committee,  appointed  by  the  Sovereign  from 
the  party  for  the  time  being  in  majority,  known  as 
Rise  of  the       the  Ministry  or  Cabinet,  exercised  these 

Cabinet.  <.  , .  rr\\  •       j       •  £  ■  • 

lunctions.  1ms  device  ot  an  executive 
ministry,  changing  as  power  changes  from  one  party 
to  the  other,  was  adoj^ted  under  William  and  Mary, 
and  under  the  name  of  Responsible  Government,  has 
come  to  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  polity  of 
the  English-speaking  world. 

But  the  Revolution  of  1688,  though  an  event  to  be 
thankful   for,  brought   about   only   partial   benefits. 

The    outcome    under  William   and   Mary 

Unsatiefac- 

tory  condition  was    sometliino^   vcry  dinerent    from    the 

of  Parliament.  . 

freedom  for  which  the  Ironsides  had 
schemed  and  fought,  which  Cromwell  through  all 
his  arbitrary  course  strove  to  make  real,  and  for 
which  Vane  laid  his  head  upon  the  block.  Absolut- 
ism in  the  Sovereign  was  crushed  out  effectually, 
but  England  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  aristocracy 
and  a  plutocracy,  the  mass  of  the  people  being  as 
completely  unrepresented  in  the  government  as  in 
many  a  despotism.  King,  Lords,  and  Commons 
stood  after  the  old  fashion,  for  which  Pym  and 
Hampden  had  struggled  in  the  first  years  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  The  power  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  largely  increased,  but  the  men  who  sat 
ujjon  the  benches  at  St.  Stephen's  had  ceased  almost 
to  represent  the  nation  at  large.  In  Earl  Simon's 
plan  and  for  long  after,  Parliament  had  made  sub- 
stantially real  once  more  the  ancient  national  assem- 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688.  175 

blies.  Each  freeman  indeed  could  not  come  himself 
to  the  deliberations ;  but  each  freeman  had  a  voice 
in  determining  who  should  stand  in  his  place  and 
speak  his  will,  —  from  each  shire  the  two  discreet 
knights,  from  each  borough  the  delegated  burgess. 
In  the  Parliament  of  the  eighteenth  century  this 
condition  of  things  did  not  exist.  It  had  come  about 
that  a  portion  of  the  seats  of  the  House  of  power  of  the 
Commons  were  practically  owned  by  great  men  o^f^"^ 
nobles,  who  filled  them  with  subservient  "*'^*'^^- 
creatures.  The  nobles  sat  at  the  same  time  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  To  their  direct  power  as  peers, 
therefore,  was  added  a  vast,  indirect  power,  obtained 
through  their  influence  in  the  lower  House,  a  power 
so  great  that  it  approached  the  proportions  of  an 
oligarchy. 

Still  another  element  in  the  nation  had  come  to 
wield  a  portentous  influence.  The  growth  of  a  great 
commercial  class  was  undoubtedly  on  the  whole  a 
good,  but  it  was  not  a  good  unmixed  with  evil. 
Merchants  and  manufacturer  became  possessed  of 
wealth :  the  colonies  and  establishments  of  the  large 
trading  companies  in  the  West  and  in  the  Orient 
offered  opportunities  to  the  bold  and  rapacious  which 
were  eagerly  embraced.  Men  grew  rich  at  home,  in 
the  East  and  West  Indies,  in  America.  Not  satisfied 
with  riches,  they  desired  also  power.  By  the  score 
they  bought  their  way  into  the  House  of  Commons, 
showing  no  scruple  about  employing  corruption  ;  as 
on  the  other  hand  the  degenerate  constituencies 
had  no  scruple  about  accepting  the  bribes  that  were 
offered.  By  the  side  of  the  vast  power  the  nobles 
had   seized,  a  dangerous   plutocracy  had  placed  itr 


176  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

self.  The  bearing  upon  the  fortunes  of  Anglo-Saxon 
freedom,  of  the  condition  of  things  which  had  come 
to  pass  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is  so 
important  as  to  require  careful  consideration. 


ERA  OF  rARLIAMENTARi   CORRUrTlOX.       177 


CHAPTER   XII. 

ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  CORRUPTION. 

George  1, 1714.    George  II,  1727.    George  III,  1760. 

In  the  middle  of   the  eighteenth  century  no  one 
thought  of  questioning  the  principles  of  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688.     The  doctrine  of  divine  right 
had  fallen  out  of  favor.     Parliament  was   sibiiuy'^^f^""' 

,  ,,  .         ,■,  Whigs  and 

recognized  as  tlie  supreme  power   m   the  Tories  for 

o  TTT        1  •  1  11  Parliamen- 

btate.     We  have  to  consider  now  the  de-  tary  corrup- 

tion. 

generacy  of  rarliament,  tlie  extent  to 
which  it  had  ceased  to  represent  the  nation  and  fallen 
a  prey  to  corruption.  At  an  earlier  time,  when  the 
Sovereigns  had  been  more  powerful,  there  had  been 
little  corruption :  it  was  much  cheaper  to  coerce  or 
intimidate  a  knave  than  to  buy  him.  For  a  very  dif- 
ferent reason,  there  is  little  direct  buying  of  votes  in 
our  own  time.  The  nation  now  holds  Parliament 
strictly  accountable  to  itself:  everything  is  thor- 
ouglily  ventilated  in  the  newspapers :  public  opinion 
holds  all  in  fear.  But  between  the  time  when  the 
Kings  influenced  Parliament,  and  the  time  when 
public  opinion  began  to  make  itself  felt,  there  was  an 
interval  during  which  corruption  was  scarcely  op- 
posed. This  interval  extended  from  1688  until  the 
close  of  the  war  with  America,  in  1783.     The  great 


178  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

parties  were  about  equally  concerned  in  the  abuse : 
the  Tories  were  the  first  to  begin  it  and  the  last  to 
give  it  up,  but  it  was  most  vigorous  under  the  Whigs. 
The  best  men  of  the  period  connived  at  it. 
honest  men  to  Said   Kiuff  William  to  the  remonstrating 

bribery.  .  °  .         ° 

Bishop  Burnet :  "  Nobody  hates  bribery 
worse  than  I ;  but  I  have  to  do  with  a  set  of  men 
who  must  be  managed  in  this  vile  way,  or  not  at  all. 
I  must  strain  a  point,  or  the  country  is  lost."  Bribery 
was  never  worse  than  under  the  ministry  of  Pelham, 
1745  to  1754,  a  statesman  undoubtedly  of  good  pur- 
poses and  character.  He,  too,  felt  forced  to  pay 
greedy  and  low-minded  men  not  to  ruin  the  country. 
There  were  other  men  in  places  of  power,  of  the  most 
honest  dispositions,  whose  fingers,  nevertheless,  be- 
came touched  with  the  pitch:  they  were  entirely 
above  receiving  bribes  themselves,  but  they  felt 
forced  to  bribe  others.^ 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  from  the  time  of  Simon 
de  Montfort,  the  two  great  divisions  under  which 
the  members  were  naturally  classed  were  those  of 
county-members  and  borough-members.  Taking  each 
class  by  itself,  let  us  review,  at  some  risk  of  repeti- 
tion, the  influences  to  which  it  had  been  exposed,  and 
the  condition  into  which  it  had  fallen  at  the  time  of 
the  accession  of  George  IH,  in  1760. 

The  county-members  were  the  knights-of-the-shire, 

whom  the    constitutional    historian  has   occasion  to 

mention  so  frequently  as  playinof  a  most 

Degeneracy  of  ''  x       ./       o 

the  county  rep-  houorablc    aud   uscf  ul   part.     These  were 
elected  in  the  shire-moots,  in  which  in  early 


resentatives. 


1  Macaulay :  History  of  England,  III,  p.  429,  etc.    Green:  History  of 
the  English  People,  IV,  p.  125,  etc. 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  CORRUPTION.      179 

times  appeared  not  only  great  proprietors,  but  a  multi- 
tude of  small  free-holders,  the  independent  yeomen, 
that  body  of  the  population  drawing  its  blood  to 
such  an  extent  from  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  sources, 
and  retaining  to  such  an  extent  the  ancient  Anglo- 
Saxon  traditions.  That  the  knights-of-the-shire  in 
early  times  were  stanch  spokesmen  for  freedom,  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  constituencies 
which  sent  them  to  Westminster  were  composed  so 
largely  of  yeomen.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, the  golden  age  of  the  English  yeo-  decline  of  the 
manry,  Fortescue  declares  that  in  no  other  yeomen, 
country  of  Europe  were  the  small  landed  proprietors 
so  numerous,  and  he  attributes  to  tliis  circumstance 
a  large  part  of  the  well-being  of  England.^  Through 
trade,  however,  which  became  vigorous  soon  after,  as 
new  lands  and  new  seas  were  opened  to  commerce, 
individuals  grew  rich,  the  increase  of  wealth  result- 
ing in  the  accumulation  of  great  estates  in  which  the 
small  free-holds  began  to  be  absorbed.  The  growth 
of  the  woollen  trade,  with  the  high  rate  of  agricul- 
tural wages,  under  Henry  VII,  made  it  profitable  to 
turn  arable  land  into  pasture  ;  so  that,  instead  of  a 
number  of  independent  farmers  a  single  shepherd 
often  became  the  administrator  of  a  wide  tract.  This 
process  went  on,  until  in  Elizabethan  times  and  after- 
ward, there  was  bitter  complaint  because  the  farm- 
steads of  the  yeomanry  were  becoming  to  such  an 
extent  absorbed  in  sheepwalks.  More,  Ascham,  Lati- 
mer, Strafford,  and  Bacon,  as  we  have  seen,  testified 
to  the  evil,  and  there  was  legislation  to  counteract  it. 
At  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  the  yeomen,  though 

1  De  Laudibus  Legum  Angliae,  XXIX. 


180  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

diminislied  in  numbers,  still  constituted,  as  we  know, 
an  important  part  of  the  strength  of  the  Parliament, 
whose  side  they  generally  embraced.  After  the 
Restoration,  however,  the  diminution  became  more 
rapid ;  the  small  free-holders  now  and  then  rose  into 
the  rank  of  county  gentry  ;  but  in  far  larger  propor- 
tion they  gave  up  their  farms,  and  fell  into  the  con- 
dition of  peasants ;  in  wdiich  case,  as  the  franchise 
depended  upon  owning  land,  they  lost  all  political 
power.i  The  franchise  in  the  shires,  therefore,  by  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  fallen 

Assumptions       .  i         i  i  c  ■       ^ 

of  the  great      mto  tlic  liauds  ot  a  com])aratively  small 

land-bolders.  i  i      i  i  i 

number  of  land-holders,  whose  numerous 
tenants  and  laborers  had  lost  all  voice  in  the  public 
management.  These  great  land-holders  were  in  part 
nobles,  already  possessed  of  large  political  power  as 
members  of  the  House  of  Lords ;  in  part,  wealtliy 
traders  or  manufacturers  with  fortunes  won  in  legiti- 
mate commerce  ;  in  part,  men  enriched  through  fortu- 
nate speculation,  through  the  labor  of  negro  slaves, 
or  through  the  oppression  of  mild-mannered  natives 
in  Hindostan.  This  ffreat  chano-e  in  the  character 
of  the  county  constituencies  did  not  fail  to  affect, 
and  disastrously,  the  character  of  the  representatives. 
Nevertheless,  the  shii'e-membcrs  remained  as  of  old, 
the  purest  and  most  respectable  body  in  the  House  of 
Commons,-  for  the  borough  representation,  exposed  to 
influences  still  more  unfortunate,  had  sunk  into  a 
condition  far  worse,  as  will  now  be  shown. 

1  Lecky,  I,  p.  7 ;  he  cites  Eden:  History  of  Working  Classes,  I,  pp. 
73,  115.  Macanlay,  Chap.  III.  Fiscliel  on  the  Constitution,  pp.  ;il5, 
310.  Thornton  :  Overpopulation,  chapter  on  English  Peasants.  Bacon  : 
Henry  VII,  and  True  Greatness  of  Kingdoms. 


ERA  OF  PARLU:\rp]XTARY  CORRUPTION.       181 

The  boroughs,  even  in  the  thirteenth  century,  ex- 
hibited great  irregularities  in  their  constitutions. 
Citv  and  borousfh  courts  correspondino-  to 

"  °  \  ^  Bad  condition 

hundred  or  shire  moots,  liad  probably  once   of  the  bor- 

.  ouglia. 

existed,  but  few  traces  of  them  remained.^ 
There  were  municipalities  in  all  stages  of  develop- 
ment, large  and  small,  ancient  and  recent ;  and  the  limi- 
tations of  the  suffrage  amonor  them  were  as  various  as 
possible.  In  some,  the  right  to  vote  was  quite  unre- 
strained, possessed  by  all  who  paid  a  tax ;  in  others, 
the  right  belonged  to  a  small  body  which  at  the  same 
time  was  self-elective ;  in  legal  phrase,  a  close  cor- 
poration. Between  these  two  extremes,  boroughs 
could  be  found  in  numerous  forms  of  intermediate 
condition. 

As  time  progressed,  the  tendency  was  to  curtail, 
rather  than  increase,  the  largeness  of  borough  life. 
Towai'd  the  end  of  tlie  fifteenth  century. 

Destruction 

especially,  many  charters  were   issued  by  ofthepopu- 

■^  "^  "^      _  '^      lar  franchise. 

the  Crown  conferring  the  power  of  govern- 
ment in  municipalities  upon  councils  that  were  either 
close  corporations  or  elected  by  a  few  of  the  wealthier 
burgesses.  To  these  councils  solely  belonged  the 
right  to  choose  the  member  of  Parliament ;  or  some- 
times to  a  still  more  restricted  body  known  as  the 
"  Selectmen."  The  people  at  large  came  to  feel  little 
interest  in  the  memljer  in  electing  whom  they  had  had 
no  voice  ;  and  the  member,  on  his  part,  felt  no  respon- 
sibility to  the  people,  looking  to  the  handful  Avho 
chose  him  as  his  proper  constituency.  What  oppor- 
tunities for  corruption  were  now  0})ened  became  at 
once  apparent.     The  small  cliques  of  electors,  in  the 

2  Sir  T.  Erskine  May  :  Coustitutioiial  History,  II,  Chap.  XV. 


182  ANGLO-SAXON   FREP:D0M. 

absence  of  all  restraint  from  j)ublic  opinion,  could 
easily  be  bought  up  by  rich  men,  by  nobles,  or  by  tlie 
Crown,  and  evils  began  to  prevail  wliich  lasted  for 
centuries.  The  rising  power  of  Parliament  induced 
the  Tudors  to  resort  to  an  expedient  especially  preg- 
nant with  harm.  Finding  that  court-bills  could  not 
always  be  passed,  they  resorted,  in  order  to  manu- 
facture a  power  for  themselves,  to  the  creation  of 
Rotten  bor-  "  rottcu  boroughs  ";  that  is,  the  conferring 
oughs.  q£   municipal    privileges   upon    places    of 

small  account,  the  representatives  for  which,  ap- 
pointed practically  by  dictation,  were  expected  to 
show  subserviency  to  the  power  which  nominated 
them.  Of  such  rotten  boroughs,  Henry  VIII  created 
sixteen ;  Edward  VI,  twelve  ;  Mary,  eight ;  and  Eliza- 
beth, thirty.^  To  make  it  more  sure  that  there  should 
be  no  disappointment  as  regards  a  representative  of 
proper  quality,  the  office  of  high  steward  was  often 
created  in  the  boroughs,  a  functionary  under  the 
Crown,  who  pretty  much  superseded  the  mayor  and 
council,  and  returned  the  member  to  Parliament 
without  reference  to  any  other  authority  than  his 
own. 

The  Stuarts  carried  on  the  work  Avhich  the  Tudors 
had  begun,  Charles  II  and  James  II  annihilating 
Their  growth  popuLir  frccdom  iu  the  few  corporations 
do^s^and^sui"'  which  retained  some  vestige  of  it.  The 
^'''*'  parliamentary  reformers  of  1688  wished  to 

make  the  representative  body  a  more  faithful  inter- 
preter of  the  constituencies ;  but  it  scarcely  occurred 
to  them,  apparently,  that  the  constituent  body  might 
be    an    unfaitliful    interpreter    of    the    sense    of    tlie 

1  Ransome  :  Eise  of  Constitutional  Government  in  England,  p.  113. 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMEXTARY  CORRUPTION.       183 

nation.^  In  the  towns  and  cities,  the  abuses  con- 
tinued. Small  cliques  or  individuals  held  the  power 
and  returned  the  membei*s,  and  meantime  many  of 
the  towns  were  becoming  important  centres  of  wealth 
and  population.  The  people  were  shut  out,  while  the 
little  knot  of  political  masters,  elected  for  life  and 
generally  carrying  on  their  proceedings  in  secrecy, 
had  no  sense  of  responsibility  to  them. 

At  the  time  of  the  accession  of  George  III,  1760, 
the  bad  features  of  the  borough  representation  had 
become    exaofo-erated   to   an   alarminof  ex-    ..  , 

&o  o  Abuses  under 

tent.2  Great  towns  like  Leeds,  Manches-  Georgeui. 
ter,  and  Birmingham,  which  had  come  forward 
suddenly  through  commercial  prosperity,  were  not 
represented  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  boroughs, 
like  Old  Sarum,  on  Salisbury  Plain,  upon  whose  bor- 
dere  rise  the  silent  blocks  of  Stonehenge,  with  sheep 
nibbling  the  grass  in  the  pasture  at  their  base,  but 
with  scarcely  a  human  inhabitant,  yet  returned  a 
member  to  Parliament.  In  such  a  case  there  was  no 
pretence  of  election,  the  member  being  a  mere  nomi- 
nee of  the  grandee  who  owned  the  territory.  Where 
there  was  a  pretence  of  election,  the  franchise  was 
confined  to  very  few,  the  tendency  being  to  restrict  it 
more  and  more.    At  the  boroupfhs  of  Buck-  ^       ,  n    , 

o  Case  of  Buck- 

ingham and  Bewdley,  for  instance,  the  right  '°g^a™'«'c. 

of  election  was  confined  to  the  bailiff  and  twelve 
burgesses.  Bath  and  Salisbury  were  boroughs  of 
some  importance,  the  seats  of  bishops ;  but  the  fran- 
chise was  scarcely  more  extended  in  them.  At  the 
town  of  New  Shoreham,  on  the  coast  of  Sussex,  there 

1  Macaulay  :  History  of  England,  IV,  p.  265. 

2  May:  Constitutional  History,  H,  Chap.  XV. 


184  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  voters.  The  ma- 
Caseof  New  J^^'^^J  ^^  these  had  formed  themselves  into 
shoreham.  j^  club,  for  some  strauge  reason  called  the 
"  Cliristian  Club,"  which  made  a  practice  of  offering 
their  votes  for  sale,  the  avowed  purpose  being  to 
extort  as  much  money  as  possible  at  every  election 
from  the  candidate  brought  in.  In  1770,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  club  sold  themselves  for  X35  ($175) 
a  piece,  after  haggling  with  a  number  of  different  can- 
didates as  to  the  price.  The  circumstances  were  so 
outrageous  that  Parliament  was  forced  to  notice  it; 
a  statute  against  bribery,  of  1762,  which  had  been 
pretty  much  a  dead  letter,  was  put  in  force,  and  New 
Shoreham  was  disfranchised  for  its  conduct.  It  was 
admitted  at  the  time  that  there  were  many  similar 
cases.     Sudbury,  indeed,  in   Suffolk,  pub- 

Of  Sudbury.  .       / .        -,  ^        r^     p       i  f  i 

licly  advertised  itseli.  Oxiord,  seat  oi  the 
university  though  it  was,  was  sold  by  its  corporation, 
which  had  absorbed  all  power,  to  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough and  the  Earl  of  Abingdon.  The  bargainers 
were,  indeed,  prosecuted,  like  those  of  New  Shore- 
ham, but  with  a  more  fortunate  issue  for  them :  the 
whole  affair  was  laughed  at  as  a  huge  joke  and  soon 
Condition  of  forgottcu.  Scotlaud  was  even  worse  off 
Scotland.  |-]^^j-^  England.  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow, 
populous  as  they  were,  contained  each  but  thirty- 
three  persons  who  had  a  voice  in  choosing  the  mem- 
ber of  Parliament.  Not  a  borough  existed  in  the 
land  which  was  not  practically  owned  by  some  man 
of  wealth. 

The  facts  cited  show  that,  bad  as  the  condition  of 
the  county  representation  was,  that  of  the  boroughs 
was  generally  worse.     It  was  not  always  so  :  in  some 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  CORRUPTIOX.       185 

parts  of  Great  Britain,  the  shires  kept  pace  with  the 
municipalities  in  the  race  of  degradation.  The  shire 
of  Bute,  in  Scotland,  for  instance,  with  a  ,j,jjg  ^j^j^.^  ^^ 
population  of  fourteen  thousand,  had  but  ^"'^" 
twenty-one  electors,  of  whom  only  one  was  an  actual 
resident  of  the  shire.  At  a  Parliamentary  election  in 
Bute,  "  only  one  person  attended  the  meeting,  except 
the  sheriff  and  returning-officers.  He,  of  course,  took 
the  chair,  constituted  the  meeting,  called  over  the  roll 
of  free-holders,  answered  to  his  own  name,  took  the 
vote  as  to  Prseses,  and  elected  himself.  He  then 
moved  and  seconded  his  own  nomination,  took  the 
vote,  and  was  unanimously  returned."  ^ 

A  brief  sketch  has  been  given  of  the  degradation 
to  which  the  House  of  Commons  had  fallen,  a  deg- 
radation illustrated  in  great  detail  by  the  historians 
to  whom  reference  is  made.  The  people  of  England 
were  quite  unrepresented ;  an  actual  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  was  returned  by  a  small  body ; 
the  best  political  traditions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
appeared  to  be  forgotten.  When  at  length  statistics 
were  presented  with  the  idea  of  rousing  the  nation  to 
a  sense  of  its  condition,  it  was  found  that  seventy 
members  were  returned  from  thirty-five  places  in 
which  there  were  scarcely  any  electors  at  all ;  that 
ninety  members  were  returned  by  forty-six  places 
with  less  than  fifty  electors ;  and  thirty-seven  members 
by  nineteen  places  having  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dred electoi-s.  Of  great  peers,  liolding  seats  in  the 
upper  House  and  at  the  same  time  largely  controlling 
the  lower  House,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  controlled  the 

1  May :  Constitutioual  History,  I,  pp.  185,  18G  (he  quotes  from  Han- 
sard's Debates). 


186  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

election  of  seven  members ;  Lord  Lonsdale,  of  nine ; 
Lord  Darlington,  of  seven ;  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  of 
six ;  and  so  on  through  the  aristocracy.  As  patrons 
of  boroughs  or  owners  of  vast  estates  in  the  shires, 
they  were  politically  omnipotent,  being  regarded  by 
the  people,  who  had  in  large  part  lost  all  sense  of 
their  ancient  birthright,  as  their  masters  beyond 
question.  It  was  asserted  at  last  that  one  hundred 
and  fifty-four  individuals,  forty-five  of  whom  were 
peers,  returned  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Seats  at  Westminster  became  almost  openly  articles 
of  bargain  and  sale.  Early  in  the  centuiy,  a  seat  had 
Price  of  Parii-  t)een  held  at  £  2500 ;  under  George  III  the 
B^tr**^^  price  rose  to  .£4000.  This  was  due  partic- 
ularly to  the  rise  of  the  "  nabobs."  Hun- 
dreds of  Englishmen  had  gone  in  quest  of  fortvme  to 
the  East  and  West  Indies ;  there,  at  the  risk  of  health 
and  life,  moved  often  by  unscrupulous  rapacity,  they 
wrung  wealth  from  the  toil  of  negro  slaves,  or  the 
oppression  of  gentle  natives,  who  in  the  clutch  of 
Hastings,  Clive,  and  their  companions,  were  like 
chickens  in  the  claws  of  hawks.  The  portrait  of  the 
The  nabobs  ^abob  was  frequently  drawn  in  the  old 
plays  and  novels.  Who  does  not  know  the 
sallow,  ill-tempered  old  curmudgeon,  home  at  last  from 
his  years  of  cruel  over-reaching  in  a  foreign  land,  with 
no  more  morals  or  good-nature  tlian  liver,  —  a  sjDirit- 
ual  and  physical  wreck,  —  his  jaundiced  face  matching 
his  ill-gotten  gold  —  the  terror  wliile  he  lives  of  a 
group  of  toadying  friends,  who  h()})e  to  pocket  his 
rupees  when  at  last  his  grasp  relaxes  ?  Scores  of  such 
nabobs,  in  the  time  of  George  III,  by  buying  tlieir 
way  into  Parliament,  raised  the  price  of  seats.     The 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY   CORRUPTION.       187 

country  squires,  who  were  comparatively  respectable, 
were  overborne  by  the  wealth  of  the  returned  adven- 
turers ;  even  powerful  nobles  were  no  match  for  them. 

Of  course,  representatives  holding  their  seats  by  a 
general  system  of  corruption,  or  who  were  the  mere 
creatures  of  some  great  Loi'd  of  Broad-acres,  could 
seldom  turn  out  to  be  high-minded,  independent  leg- 
islators. They  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  themselves 
subservient  or  corrupt.  The  bestowing  of  places, 
pensions,  and  actual  bribes  for  parliamentary  service 
was  a  matter  of  course.  The  best  men  in  England, 
though  with  eyes  open  to  the  evil,  felt  forced  to  take 
part  in  it.  Reference  has  been  made  to  the  feeling  of 
King  William  and  of  Pelham.  The  great  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly,  at  a  later  time,  the  man  who  had 
the  chief  hand  in  reforming  the  old  san-  sirsamuei 
guinary  criminal  code  by  which  even  petty 
larceny  might  be  punished  with  the  death  penalty, 
wrote :  "  Tins  buying  of  seats  is  detestable ;  and  yet 
it  is  almost  the  only  way  in  which  one  in  my  situation, 
who  is  resolved  to  be  an  independent  man,  can  get 
into  Parliament.  To  come  in  by  a  popular  election 
in  the  present  state  of  the  representation  is  quite 
impossible;  to  be  placed  there  by  some  great  lord, 
and  to  vote  as  he  should  direct,  is  to  be  in  a  state  of 
complete  dependence ;  and  nothing  remains  but  to 
owe  a  seat  to  the  sacrifice  of  part  of  one's  fortune. 
It  is  true  that  many  men  who  buy  seats  do  it  as  a 
matter  of  pecuniary  speculation,  as  a  profitable  way 
of  employing  their  money ;  they  carry  on  a  political 
trade  ;  they  buy  their  seats  and  sell  their  votes."  ^ 

In  the  middle  of  the  ciglitcenth  century,  then,  Parlia- 

1  May:  Coustitutioiial  History,  I,  p.  276. 


188  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

ment  was  supreme,  but  it  had  ceased  to  represent  the 
people.     The  meanest  motives  told  upon  it, 

The  people  i  i  i       i     n  i 

uiuepre-  autl  purchase  had  become  more  and  more 

seiited.  „  .  .  -f^y 

tlie  means  oi  entering  it.  Waipoie,  prime 
minister  from  1721  to  1742,  organized  corruption  into 
a  system ;  and  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  prime  minister 
from  1754  to  1761,  based,  without  concealment,  his 
power  upon  bribery  and  borough-jobbing.  These  were 
Whig  administrations.  Under  George  III,  the  Tories 
did  no  better,  £25,000_  being  spent,  sometimes,  in  a 
single  day  to  influence  votes.  The  moral  tone  of 
public  life  was  profoundly  lowered :  the  social  condi- 
tion of  the  people,  moreover,  deprived  of  the  suffrage, 
and  influein;ed  by  the  demoralizing  example  set  by 
those  high  in  station,  sank  rapidly  toward  the  shame- 
ful.^ Was  the  nation  unconscious  of  the  disgrace 
which  had  come  upon  it ;  and  were  no  voices  raised 
for  a  reform  of  almses?  By  no  means.  The  question 
exciting  most  interest  about  the  year  1750  was  the 
extreme  corruption  of  Parliament,  its  subjection  to 
the  executive,  and  the  danger  of  its  becoming  the  op- 
pressor, not  the  representative,  of  the  people.  Many 
began  to  think  the  country  had  gained  little  by 
exchanging  an  arbitrary  King  for  a  Parliament  cor- 
rupt and  tyrannical.^  In  a  few  years  Ave  find  Burke 
exclaiming,  "  The  value,  spirit,  and  essence  oi  a 
House  of  Commons  consists  in  its  being  the  express 
image  of  the  feelings  of  the  nation."  Still  more  em- 
phatically another  declared:  ''Tliis  House  is  not  a 
representative  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  It  is 
the  representative  of  nonhnation-borouglis,  of  ruined 

1 1).  15.  K;itoii :  .Touriiiil  of  Social  Science,  \',  1. 
2  Lecky  :  XVlUth  Century,  II,  p.  470. 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  CORRLTTIOX.       189 

and  exterminated  towns,  of  noble  families,  of  wealthy- 
individuals,  of  foreign  potentates,"  and  he  denounced 
the  abuses.^  Such,  too,  were  the  sentiments  of  the 
great  Earl  of  Chatham. 

The  case  of  Wilkes,  first  heard  of  in  1761,  produced 
the  deepest  popular  agitation.  Wilkes,  a  man  of 
ability,  and  a  strong  champion  of  freedom,  (.^^^^^ 
though  unfortunately  his  character  was  not  wiikes. 
good,  had  been  legally  chosen  to  Parliament  in  Lon- 
don. Parliament,  assuming  an  authority  which  it  had 
never  possessed,  twice  declared  Wilkes  incapable,  — 
action  which  the  people  on  their  part  met  with  ener- 
getic remonstrance,  ending  twice  Avitli  a  re-election 
of  their  rejected  favorite.  Great  radical  associations 
were  formed.  With  the  disturbances  of  this  time 
began  the  influence  of  public  meetings  on 

T     .  T  T  1  •      Mass-meetings. 

politics.  In  towns  masses  gathered,  as  m 
the  case  of  the  ^Middlesex  electors  ;  in  the  counties, 
too,  were  great  assemblies,  as  in  the  case  of  the  York- 
shire free-holders ;  and  in  these  vast  meetings  it 
became  a  familiar  cry  that  the  House  of  Commons  did 
not  represent  the  people.  The  people  at  the  same 
period  discovered  still  another  channel  by  which  they 
could  make  their  power  felt.  For  the  first  time  the 
debates  in  Parliament  were  made  public.  Secrecy 
being  now  destroyed,  a  salutary  feeling  of  responsi- 
bility Avas  forced  upon  members,  who  found  them- 
selves called  sharply  to  account  before  a  tribunal  for 
which  until  now  they  had  cared  but  little.  The  first 
great  newspapers,  moreover,  were  coming  into  exis- 
tence ;  and  these  forthwith,  as  organs  of  public  opinion, 
began  a  course  of  criticism  upon  public  men,  exasper- 

1  J.  R.  Green:  History  of  the  English  People,  IV,  p.  205,  etc. 


190  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

ating,  often  undiscriminating,  and  yet  on  the  whole 
most  beneficent.  As  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  proceeded,  a  powerful  party  began  to  manifest 
itself,  determined  that  Anglo-Saxon  liberty  should  not 
be  destroyed  without  a  struggle.  The  party  com- 
prised a  portion  of  those  not  disfranchised,  —  a  few 
indeed  of  the  great  nobles :  the  mass  of  its  members, 
however,  were  the  unrepresented  millions,  the  multi- 
tude so  long  subjected  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
rich  and  great,  until  now  they  were  quite  thrust  out 
of  their  riglits.  It  was  a  party  numerous,  able,  and 
quite  ready  to  do  valiant  battle. 

Nevertheless,  the  danger  to  freedom  was  appalling. 
The  influence  of  foreign  opinion  and  example  were 
Dangers  to  almost  wholly  for  despotism.  In  the  coun- 
ree  om.  trics  of  Europc,  what  liberties  had  ever 
existed  in  the  past  were  now  completely  wrecked. 
Popular  freedom  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  France  had 
long  ago  disappeared.  More  recently  most  of  the 
freedom  of  the  towns  of  Flanders,  Germany,  and 
along  the  Baltic  had  been  destroyed  or  transmuted 
into  forms  thoroughly  inefficient :  the  Swiss  cantons 
lay  under  the  dominion  of  a  narrow  oligarchy.^  In 
the  Old  World,  it  was  only  the  Liberals  of  England 
who  remembered  and  were  disposed  to  strive  for 
popular  freedom.  Disfranchised  as  they  were,  op- 
j)osed  at  home  by  the  rich,  the  learned,  the  well- 
born, entrenched  in  places  of  power  and  headed  by  a 
King  of  despotic  disposition,  whose  capacity  for  mis- 
chief was  increased  by  the  circumstance  that  he  was 
morally  respectable  and  possessed  some  force  of  char- 
acter, who  will   say  that  the  outlook  was  not  most 

1  Lecky :  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  p.  242. 


ERA  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  CORRUPTION.      191 

critical  ?  So  thought,  at  any  rate,  many  a  lover  of 
liberty,  and  some  made  preparations  to  expatriate 
themselves,  as  was  done  by  the  founders  of  New- 
England  when  Laud  and  Strafford  seemed  likely 
to  carry  through  their  policy  of  Thorough.  How 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom  in  this  crisis  was  saved  to 
England  and  to  the  world  is  a  very  memorable  story. 


192  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  COMING  ON  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

1700-1776, 

The  English  colonies  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of 

America,  from   feeble   beginnings,  had  become  in  a 

century  and  a  half  communities  populous 

the  Thirteen     aiid  full  of  rcsourccs ;   but  holding  little 

Colonies  in  ...,-, 

the  first  half     commuuication  with  each  other,  and  varv- 

of  the  eigh-         .  ,     .  .    .  , 

teenth  cen-  mg  mucli  111  Spirit  aiid  polity.  In  Massa- 
chusetts, which  had  absorbed  Plymouth, 
and  which  also  comprised  Maine,  thus  becoming  by 
far  the  most  important  colony  of  the  North,  the 
people  were  distributed  among  two  hundred  towns, 
each  governing  itself  in  its  town-meeting,  which  re- 
produced with  curious  accuracy  the  moot-government 
of  the  primitive  Teutonic  community.  As  each  Teu- 
tonic tun  sent  representatives  to  the  higher  moot,  so 
each  Massachusetts  town  sent  a  representative  to  a 
central  assembly  at  Boston.  There  the  deputies 
met  a  Crown-appointed  governor,  and  also  a  council, 
in  constituting  which  both  assembly  and  governor 
had  a  voice.  After  the  same  general  plan  were 
ordered  the  remaining  New  England  colonies.  The 
oligarchic  features  of  the  earlier  years  had  quite  dis- 
appeared ;  not  only  church-members,  but  each  reputa- 
ble freeman  had  a  vote ;  and,  except  for  some  restraint 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.       193 

imposed  by  tlie  Sovereign,  tlie  polity  was  thoroughly 
democratic,  a  resuscitation  of  forms  most  ancient. 

Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant colony  of  the  South,  resembled  in  her  constitu- 
tion contemporary  England.  A  class  of  great  plan- 
ters, forming  a  landed  gentry,  possessed  the  territory 
and  also  all  political  power;  while  a  numerous  body 
below  them  was  without  estates  and  also  without 
voice  in  the  political  management.  While  here  and 
there  divisions  could  be  made  out  corresponding  to 
the  contemporary  English  parishes,  like  them  called 
parishes  and  each  governed  by  its  vestry,  the  real  unit 
of  political  life  was  the  county,  administered  by  its 
Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  closely  similar  to  the 
institution  of  the  same  name,  which,  in  the  mother- 
country,  had  replaced,  except  for  elective  purposes, 
the  sliire-moot.  In  one  respect,  Virginia  differed 
widely  from  the  mother-country,  —  full  half  her  popu- 
lation Avere  negro  slaves.  For  a  central  government 
there  was  a  governor,  a  council,  and  a  representative 
assembly.  After  the  same  general  plan  as  that  of 
Virginia  were  ordered  the  other  Southern  colonies. 

In  the  middle  colonies,  both  society  and  institutions 
were  far  from  homogeneous.  In  New  Yoi'k,  to  the 
original  Dutch,  the  English  had  been  added,  and  to 
these  again  a  German  element ;  the  young  city  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  was  made  up  of  waifs  of  all 
nations.  On  portions  of  the  territory  stood  towns 
scarcely  differing  from  those  of  New  England ;  on 
other  portions,  the  great  manors  of  the  patroons ;  on 
still  others,  some  simple  patriarchal  form  of  commu- 
nity. In  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  the  state  was 
distinctly  feudal,  the  territory  having  been  given  to 


194  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

great  proprietors  who  stood  almost  in  the  relation  of 
suzerain  to  a  great  body  of  tenants.  In  Pennsylvania, 
the  principal  stock  had  been  English  Quakers ;  but  a 
stream  of  Irish,  Scotch,  and  German  immigration  had 
poured  into  the  back  settlements,  which  showed  often 
small  respect  for  the  authority  or  the  instructions  of 
William  Penn.  Here  the  ancient  shire-moot  had 
reappeared  with  noteworthy  vigor.  In  Maryland 
the  proprietary  was  a  Catholic,  and  the  colony  was 
largely  of  Catholic  refugees.  Circumstances,  how- 
ever, had  induced  Lord  Baltimore,  a  man  of  liberal 
instincts,  to  practise  a  quite  un-Roman  toleration. 
Maryland  harbored  Puritan,  Episcopalian,  and  unbe- 
liever, —  a  company  quite  too  motley  in  character  for 
a  harmonious  social  condition.  For  each  of  the 
middle  colonies,  too,  there  was  a  governor,  council, 
and  assembly.  The  Thirteen  Colonies  had  at  least 
this  point  in  common,  that  in  each  colony  there  was 
an  element,  and  it  was  sometimes  the  ruling  element, 
of  men  and  women  who  for  conscience'  sake  had  fled 
westward  to  avoid  persecution.  Sometimes  it  was 
the  persecution  of  a  hostile  church ;  sometimes  of  a 
tyrannical  prince ;  sometimes  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth. Such  people  Avere  sure  to  be  earnest  and  of 
sturdy  moral  fibre.  Probably  no  nation  ever  started 
on  its  career  with  a  larger  proportion  of  strong 
characters,  or  a  higher  level  of  moral  convictions.^ 

How,  precisely,  did  it  come  about  that  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  declared  themselves  independent?^     In  the 


1  Lecky  :  XVIIIth  Century,  II,  p.  2. 

2  In  the  discussion  that  follows,  I  am  fjreatly  indebted  to  the  able 
chapter  by  Hon.  Melleu  Chaniberlaiu,  in  Wiusor :  Narrative  and  Criti- 
cal History  of  America,  VI,  p.  1,  etc. 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.       195 

fifteenth  century,  by  public  law  of  all  civilized  nations, 
all  unoccupied  lands  in  newly  discovered 
countries  belonged  to  the  Crown,   under  The  approach 

"  _  or  the  Ameri- 

whose  authority  the  discoveries  had  been  '=?°  Revoiu- 
made.  The  English  colonies  were  held  by 
the  lawyers  to  belong  to  the  Crown  and  not  to  the 
peojDle,  and  the  Crown,  in*  their  view,  had  a  right  to 
govern  or  dispose  of  them  without  interference  of  Par- 
liament. The  colonists  were  not  under  parliamentary 
jurisdiction,  but  responsible  only  to  the  Kings ;  they 
possessed  only  such  rights  as  their  charters  gave 
them;  and  these  charters  the  Crown  claimed  the 
right  to  amend  or  revoke  as  it  chose,  though  usually 
not  without  much  discontent  on  the  part  of  the  col- 
onists. James  I  amended  the  Virginia  charter  in 
1624,  and  Charles  II  revoked  that  of  Massachusetts 
in  1684,  while  William  III  gave  to  Massachusetts  a 
new  charter  quite  different  in  its  provisions  from  its 
predecessor.  Originally,  these  charters  were  simply 
incorporations  of  trading-companies,  and  when  they 
were  "perverted"  into  instruments  of  government, 
as  the  trading  enterprises  grew  into  the  dimension  of 
States,  the  Kings  continued  to  feel  that  they  could 
do  with  the  documents  as  they  chose.  The  colo- 
nists, claiming  that  they  had  "  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  Englishmen,"  among  which  was  the  right  to 
be  free  from  arbitrarj^  interference,  resisted  the  med- 
dling of  the  princes;  still,  the  pretensions  of  the 
princes  by  all  judicial  authority,  were  strictly  legal. 
In  the  eye  of  the  law,  the  colonists  when  disposed  to 
resist  were  of  a  revolutionary  temper. 

The  Kings  claimed  the  right  to  rule  the  colonies 
without  parliamentary  interference,  but  they  were  not 


196  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

consistent.  Charles  II,  for  instance,  allowed  the  par- 
liamentary acts  of  Navigation,  laws  greatly 
ofrte^Kings^  restricting  commerce,  to  be  enforced  in 
n?su'.^''  *"''*'"  the  colonies ;  and  in  the  time  of  William 
and  Mary,  colonial  affairs  were  to  a  large 
extent  transferred  from  the  management  of  the  Privy 
Council,  the  King's  creation,  to  the  Board  of  Trade, 
a  council  of  commerce  created  by  Parliament.  ^Vmong 
the  colonists,  also,  the  general  doctrine  was  that  they 
owed  allegiance  to  the  King  and  not  to  Parliament : 
they  received  the  Crown-appointed  governor,  and 
were  accustomed  to  see  the  laws  of  their  own  assem- 
blies sometimes  set  aside  by  royal  authority ;  a  mem- 
orable j^resentation  of  this  doctrine,  from  the  colonial 
point  of  view,  was  that  made  Ijy  Franklin,  before  the 
bar  of  tlie  House  of  Commons  at  the  time  of  the 
Stamp  Act  agitation  in  1766.  Still,  the  colonists 
were  no  more  consistent  here  than  the  Kings.  Story 
brings  up  the  fact,  tluit  in  1757,  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  distinctly  admitted  the  authority 
of  Parliament;  so,  too,  in  1761 ;  and  even  so  late  as 
1768,  it  was  admitted  "•  that  his  Majesty's  high  Court 
of  Parliament  is  the  supreme  legislative  power  over 
the  whole  empire."  ^ 

The  fact  is,  that,  as  regards  the  exact  legal  and 
constitutional  status  of  the  colonies,  all  were  at  sea, 
both  in  the  colonies  and  at  liome.  The  Kings  were 
uncertain,  as  appears  from  their  consenting  uoav  and 
then  to  parliamentary  interference.  The  colonists 
were  uncertain,  claiming  now  more,  now  less.  In 
the  meantime,  Parliament,  l)ec()nie  oligarchic  and 
greatly  invigorated   during  the   deeline  of  the  royal 

^  Story  on  the  Coustitutioii,  Chaj).  XVI,  §  188. 


COMIXC^  OX  OF  AMEllTCxVN  KEVOLUTIOX.       197 

prestige  in  the  early  Ilanoverian  days,  assumed  more 
and  more  power,  taking  upon  itself  at  last  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  colonies  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Had  tliere  been  only  political  misunderstandings, 
however,  the  colonies  would  never  have  been  sepa- 
rated from  the   mother-country.      In  two   The  ecciesias- 

.  tical  griev- 

other  ways  their  love  liad  become  es-  ance. 
tranged.  First,  as  regards  ecclesiastical  matters,  the 
destruction  in  Massachusetts  through  the  new  char- 
ter granted  by  William,  of  the  "  theocracy,"  so- 
called  because  it  was  a  form  of  government  in  which 
only  church-members  were  admitted  to  hold  office  or 
vote,  was  a  severe  shock  to  Puritan  feeling.  The 
grievance  was  kept  alive  through  the  toleration,  en- 
forced upon  the  Puritans,  of  all  sects  but  Roman 
Catholics ;  as  the  eighteenth  century  advanced,  the 
possibility  of  the  introduction  of  a  bishop  and  a 
church  establishment  appeared,  Avhich  caused  deep- 
seated  resentment.  In  Virginia,  too,  there  was  eccle- 
siastical trouble,  but  of  a  quite  different  sort.  In 
Virginia,  there  Avas  no  hatred  of  Prelacy ;  her  faith 
from  the  lirst,  on  the  contrary,  had  Ijeen  Episco- 
palian. Soon  after  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  however,  there  had  been  interference  from 
England  with  the  manner  in  which  the  clergy  were 
paid,  —  interference  Cxiusing  much  exasperation,  and 
which  is  best  remembered  now  as  having  given  to 
Patrick  Henry  liis  hrst  opportunity.  In  the  other 
colonies,  the  ecclesiastical  grievance  weighed  little, 
if  at  all.  Connecticut  retained  its  old  chai'ter,  con- 
veniently hidden  in  the  liollow  of  an  oak  when  a 
royal  hand  had  been  stretched  out  to  seize  it ;  and, 
besides,  Connecticut,   more    liberal    than    ^Nlassacliu- 


198  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

setts,  had  from  the  lii-st  given  tlie  franchise  to  the 
inhabitants  in  general,  with  no  restriction  of  it  to 
church-members.  In  New  York,  motley  in  faith  as 
in  population,  the  church  question  played  but  a  small 
part  in  politics ;  while  in  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land, the  terms  of  the  grants  to  Penn  and  Lord 
Baltimore,  respectively,  had  been  more  or  less  will- 
ingly acquiesced  in  by  the  proprietors  and  their  ten- 
antry from  the  first. 

But  a  second  stone  of  offence,  which,  unlike  the 
ecclesiastical  one,  affected  all  America,  existed  in  the 
Thecommer-  ^^'^'^^  regulations.  Says  Arthur  Young: 
ciai  grievance,  u  ;N'othing  cau  be  morc  idle  than  to  say  that 
this  set  of  men,  or  the  other  administration,  or  that 
great  minister,  occasioned  the  American  war.  It  Avas 
not  the  Stamp  Act  or  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act ; 
it  was  neither  Lord  Rockingham  nor  Lord  North,  — 
but  it  was  that  baleful  spirit  of  commerce  that 
wished  to  govern  great  nations  on  the  maxims  of  the 
counter."  ^  It  has  been  seen  how  powerful  in  Eng- 
land the  mercantile  class  had  become,  a  most  excel- 
lent element,  the  growing  influence  of  which  marked 
the  surrender  by  the  world  of  Avorn-out  medievalism, 
and  the  taking  on  of  the  modern  spirit.  The  mer- 
cantile class  had  been  largely  recruited  by  the  new 
blood  which  had  been  poured  into  England,  —  Hugue- 
not, Eleming,  German,  Hebrew.  With  the  Whigs 
and  the  non-conformists,  it  threw  its  weight  power- 
fully against  the  influence  of  the  Tories  and  the 
Anglican  Church,  contributing  much  to  the  rejection 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  Kings,  and  to 
the  ascendency  of   Parliament.     Xo  good,   hoAvever, 

1  Quoted  by  Bancroft. 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.      199 

is    unmixed   with  evil :    the    spirit   of    commerce    is 
often   excessively   selfish   and  capable    of 

T  *  •         Vp  •  SelfishncBBof 

producing  harm.  In  America,  for  m-  the  spirit  of 
stance,  the  English  traders  and  manufac- 
turers tried  to  subordinate  colonial  interests  to  their 
own,  with  ruthless  disregard  of  the  welfare  of  all 
but  themselves.  Soon  after  the  middle  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  began  a  series  of  enactments  by 
Parliament,  which  were  continued  down  to  the  out- 
break of  the  American  Revolution,  —  enactments 
designed  to  pour  profit  into  pockets  at  home,  at  the 
expense  of  the  population  living  in  the  dependencies. 
These  were,  first,  the  Navigation  Laws,^  which 
weighed  heavily  upon  the  carrying-trade  ;  and,  second, 
the  legislation  brought  about  by  the  Board  of  Trade, 
an  institution  established  with  considerable  powers 
in  the  time  of  William  and  Mary,  to  which  were  com- 
mitted the  interests  of  commerce  and  a  general  over- 
sight of  the  colonies.  Adam  Smith  was  still  in  the 
far  future,  and  the  policy  constantly  pursued  was 
neither  humane  nor  wise.  We  may  judge  of  the 
temper  of  the  Board  from  the  fact  that  even  John 
Locke,  its  wisest  and  one  of  its  most  influential 
members,  solemnly  advised  William  to  appoint  a 
captain-general  over  the  colonies  with  dictatorial 
power ;  and  the  whole  Board  recommended,  in  1701, 
a  resumption  of  the  colonial  charters  and  the  intro- 
duction of  such  "  an  administration  of  government 
as  shall  make  them   duly  subservient  to  England."' 

1  See  summary  of  them  in  Adam  Smith :  Wealth  of  Xations,  II,  p. 
201.  In  the  account  here  given  of  the  coming  on  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution, the  writer  follows,  with  some  modification,  his  life  of  Samuel 
Adams,  (American  Statesmen  Series,  Vol.  XIII,  Chap.  VI,)  which  see 
for  fuller  details. 


200  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

Tlie  welfare  of  the  colonies  was  systematically  sac- 
rificed to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  gains  of  English 
manufacturers  and  merchants.  Sometimes  the  pro- 
visions turned  out  to  the  advantage  of  the  colonies : 
they  were  restricted  to  English  markets,  but  they 
had  a  monopoly  of  those  markets.  More  frequently 
there  was  oppression  without  any  compensating 
good. 

Restrictions,  like  the  Act  of  1719,  against  the  hat 
manufacture,  designed  for  securing  to  the  mother- 
country  a  monopoly  of  the  colonial  trade,  crushed 
out  every  industry  that  could  compete  with  those  of 
England.  For  such  products  as  they  were  permitted 
to  raise,  the  colonies  had  no  lawful  market  but  Eng- 
land, nor  could  they  buy  anywhere,  except  in  England, 
the  most  important  articles  which  they  needed.  With 
the  French  West  India  Islands  a  most  profitable  in- 
tercourse had  sprung  up,  the  colonists  shipping  thither 
lumber  and  provisions,  and  receiving  in  return  sugar 
and  molasses,  the  consumption  of  which  latter  article, 
in  the  widespread  manufacture  of  rum,  was  very 
large.  In  1733  was  passed  the  famous  "  Sugar  Act," 
the  design  of  whicli  was  to  help  the  British  West 
The  Sugar  Indics  at  tlic  expense  of  the  Northern  colo- 
^'^^'  nies,  and  b}*  which  trade  with  the  French 

islands  became  generally  unlawful,  so  that  no  legiti- 
mate source  of  sup})ly  remained  open  but  the  far  less 
convenient  English  islands.  The  restrictions,  indeed, 
were  not  and  could  not  be  enforced.  Every  sailor 
was  a  smuggler;  every  colonist  knew  more  or  less  of 
illicit  traffic  or  industry.  The  demoralization  came 
to  })ass  which  always  results  when  a  community,  even 
with  good  reason,  is  full  of  la\\-l)reakers,  and  the  dis- 


COMING  OX  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.       201 

position  became  constantly  more  and  more  unfriendly 
toward  the  mother-country. 

The  Board  of  Trade,  however,  the  main  source  of 
the  long  series  of  acts  by  which  the  English  depen- 
dencies were  systematically  repressed,  should  receive 
execration  not  too  severe.  They  simply  were  not  in 
advance  of  their  age.  When,  after  1688,  the  com- 
mercial spirit  gained  an  ascendency  quite  new  in 
England,  the  colonists,  far  off,  little  known,  and  de- 
spised, were  pitched  upon  as  fair  game,  if  they  could 
be  made  to  yield  advantage.  In  so  using  them,  tlie 
men  in  power  were  only  showing  what  has  so  often 
passed  as  patriotism,  that  mere  expansion  of  selfisli- 
ness,  inconsistent  Avith  any  broad  Christian  sentiment, 
which  seeks  wealth  and  might  for  tlie  state  at  the 
expense  of  the  world  outside.  It  was  inhumanity 
from  which  the  world  is  rising,  it  may  be  hoped, 
for  which  it  would  be  wrong  to  Ijlame  those  men  of 
the  past  too  harshl}".  The  injustice,  however,  as 
always,  brought  its  penalty ;  and  in  this  case  the 
penalty  was  the  utter  estrangement  of  the  hearts  of  a 
million  of  Englishmen  from  the  land  they  had  once 
loved,  and  the  ultimate  loss  of  a  continent. 

Before  the  settlements,  it  had  been  stipulated  in 
the  charters  that  all  the  colonists  were  to  have  the 
rigfhts  and  privileges  of  Enfjlislnnen,  and 

,   .  .    .  ,    ^  .  •        1         ^T  The  rights  and 

this    provision    tliev    oiten    cited.     Mamia   privileges  of 

■*-  ■'  ~  Englisliraon. 

Cliarta,  as  we  have  seen,  was  but  a  confir- 
mation of  what  had  stood  in  and  before  the  time  of 
Edward  tlie  Confessor,  —  the  primitive  freedom,  in- 
deed, Avhicli  had  prevailed  in  the  German  A\()ods. 
This  had  ])een  a^aiii  and  acaiii  conlirmed.  Docu- 
ments  of  Edward  I  and  Edward  III,  the  Petition  of 


202  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Right  of  1628,  the  Bill  of  Rights  of  1689,  had  given 
such  re-confirmation.  The  colonists  all  knew  this  in 
a  general  way.  Especially  the  descendants  of  the 
twenty  thousand  Puritans  knew  it,  who,  coming  over 
between  1620  and  1640,  had  been  the  seed  from  which 
sprang  the  race  of  New  Englanders.  They  were  to 
the  full  as  intelligent  in  perceiving  what  Avere  the 
rights  of  Englishmen,  and  as  tenacious  in  upholding 
them,  as  any  class  that  had  remained  in  the  old 
home.  Left  to  themselves  for  sixty  years,  they  little 
needed  to  assert  their  rights ;  but  when  at  last  inter- 
ference began  from  across  the  water,  it  was  met  at  the 
outset  by  protest.  Parliament  is  a  thousand  leagues 
of  stormy  sea  away  from  us,  said  they.  That  body 
cannot  judge  us  well ;  most  of  all,  our  representatives 
have  no  place  in  it.  We  owe  allegiance  to  the  King, 
indeed ;  but  instead  of  Parliament,  our  General  Court 
shall  tax  and  make  laws  for  us.  Such  claims,  often 
asserted,  though  overruled,  were  not  laid  aside,  and 
at  length,  in  1766,  we  find  Franklin  asserting  them  as 
the  opinion  of  America  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  It  cannot  be  said  that  New  England  was 
consistent  here,  as  has  been  seen,  but  this  was  the 
general  doctrine. 

The  sum  and  substance  is  that  as  to  the  constitu- 
tional rights  of  the  colonists,  the  limits  were,  in  par- 
ticulars, quite  undetermined,  both  in  the  minds  of 
English  statesmen,  and  also  among  the  colonists  them- 
selves. What  "  the  privileges  and  rights  of  English- 
men "  were  was  not  always  clearly  outlined,  and  the 
student  finds  sometimes  more,  sometimes  less,  insisted 
on,  according  as  the  temper  toward  the  Old  World 
is  embittered  or  good-natured.     As  events  progress, 


COMING  OX  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.       203 

through  fear  of  prelatical  contrivings  and  through 
bad  trade  regulations,  as  has  been  seen,  the  tone 
becomes  more  and  more  exasperated.  On  the  one 
side  the  spirit  becomes  constantly  more  independent ; 
on  the  other  side  the  claims  take  on  a  new  shade  of 
arrogance.  When  the  first  decided  steps  toward  the 
Revolution  occur  in  1764,  in  the  agitations  connected 
with  the  Stamp  Act,  the  positions  in  general  of  the 
parties  in  dispute  may  be  set  down  as  follows :  "  Par- 
liament asserted  the  right  to  make  laws  to  bind  the 
colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever ;  the  colonies  claimed 
that  there  should  be  no  taxation  without  representa- 
tion, and  that,  since  they  had  no  representatives  in 
Parliament,  they  were  beyond  its  jurisdiction." 

The  fall  of  Quebec  in  1759  was  an  important  crisis 
in  the  history  of  the  colonists.  They  had  learned  to 
estimate    their    military    strength     more   Effect  of  the 

,.•,,.,  -If.  c-ll,  •!        destruction 

highly  than  ever  before,  hide  by  side  of  French 
with  British  regulars,  they  had  fought  p"^®""' 
against  Montcalm  and  proved  their  prowess.  Officers 
qualified  by  the  best  experience  to  lead,  and  soldiers 
hardened  by  the  roughest  campaigning  into  veterans, 
abounded  in  all  the  towns.  A  more  independent 
spirit  appeared,  and  this  was  greatly  strengthened  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  destruction  of  the  power  of 
France  suddenly  put  an  end  to  the  incubus  which, 
from  the  foundation  of  things,  had  weighed  upon 
New  England,  viz.  the  dread  of  an  invasion  from  the 
North.  Coincident  with  this  great  invigoration  of 
the  tone  of  the  colonies  were  certain  changes  in  the 
English  policy;  changes  which  came  about  very 
naturally,  but  which,  in  the  temper  that  had  begun 
to  prevail,  aroused  fierce  resentment.     As  the  Seven 


204  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Years'  War  drew  towards  its  close,  it  grew  plain  that 
England  had  incurred  an  enoiinous  debt;  her  respon- 
sibilities, moreover,  had  largely  increased.  All  India 
had  fallen  into  her  hands,  as  well  as  Fi'ench  America. 
At  the  expense  of  her  defeated  rival,  her  dominion 
was  immensely  expanding.  Vast  was  the  glory,  but 
vast  also  was  the  care  and  the  financial  burden.  A 
faithful,  sharp-eyed  minister,  George  Grenville,  seeing 
well  the  needs  of  tlie  hour,  and  searcliing  as  no  pred- 
ecessor had  done  into  the  corruptions  and  slack- 
nesses of  administration,  at  once  fastened  upon  the 
unenforced  revenue  laws  as  a  field  Avhere  reform 
was  needed.  Industry  on  land,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
badly  hampered  in  a  score  of  ways,  and  on  the  sea 
the  wings  of  commerce  were  cruelly  clipped. 

Grenville's  imprudence  was  as  conspicuous  as  his 

eye  was   keen  and   his   fidelity  persistent.     As    the 

first  step  in  a  series  of  financial  measures 

of  customs       which  should  enable  England  to  meet  her 

regulations.  i    i  n  i  i 

enormous  debt  and  her  great  expenses,  he 
set  in  operation  a  vigorous  exaction  of  neglected 
customs  and  imposts.  The  vessels  of  the  navy  on 
the  American  coast  were  commissioned  to  act  in  the 
service  of  the  revenue,  each  officer  becoming  a  cus- 
toms official.  At  once  all  contraband  trade  was  sub- 
jected to  the  most  energetic  attack,  no  respect  being 
shown  to  places  or  persons.  In  particular,  the  Sugar 
Act,  by  wliich  an  effort  had  l)een  made  to  cut  off  the 
interchange  of  American  luml)er  and  provisions  for 
the  sugar  and  molasses  of  the  French  West  Indies, 
was  strongly  enforced,  and  the  New  England  saih)rs, 
with  the  enterprising  merchants  of  IJoston,  Newport, 
Salem,  and  Portsmouth  behind  them,  flamed  out  into 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.      205 

the  fiercest  resentment.  Whereas  for  many  a  year 
the  collectors,  from  their  offices  on  the  wharves,  had 
winked  placidly  at  the  full  cargoes  from  St.  Domingo 
and  St.  Christopher,  brought  into  port  beneath  their 
very  eyes,  now  all  was  to  be  changed  in  a  moment. 
Each  sleepy  tide-waiter  suddenly  became  an  Argus, 
and,  backed  up  by  a  whole  fleet-full  of  rough  and 
ready  helpers,  proceeded  to  put  an  end  to  the  most 
lucrative  trade  New  England  possessed. 

To  help  forward  this  new  activity  in  the  carrying 
out  of  laws  so  often  heretofore  a  dead  letter,  certain 
legal  forms  known  as  "  writs  of  assistance  "  -vvritB  of  ab- 
were  recommended,  to  be  granted  by  the 
Superior  Court  to  the  officers  of  the  customs,  giving 
them  authority  to  search  the  houses  of  persons  sus- 
pected of  smuggling.  The  employment  of  such  a 
power,  though  contraband  goods  were  often  no  doubt 
concealed  in  private  houses,  was  regarded  as  a  great 
outrage.  Writs  of  assistance  in  England  were  legal 
and  usual :  if  they  are  ever  justifiable,  English  au- 
thorities said  then,  and  still  say,  they  are  justifiable 
under  such  circumstances  as  prevailed  in  America. 
All  this  was  met  by  fierce  resistance. 

Inasmuch  as  the  American  colonies  had  profited 
especially  from  the  successes  of  the  war,  it  had  been 
felt.justly  enough  that  they  should  bear  a  portion  of 
the  burden.  It  might  have  been  possible  to  secure 
from  them  a  good  subsidy,  but  the  plan  devised  for 
obtaining  it  was  unwise.  The  principle  was  univer- 
sally admitted  that  Parliament  had  power  to  levy 
"  external "  taxes,  those  intended  for  the  regulation 
of  commerce.  With  the  Stamp  Act,  in  The  stamp 
1764,  Grenville  had  taken  a  step  farther.  ■^*^*' 


206  '  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

This  was  an  "  internal "  tax,  one  levied  directly  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  not  for  the  regula- 
tion of  commerce.  The  unconscious  Grenville  ex- 
plained his  scheme  in  an  open,  honest  way.  "  I  am 
not,  however,"  said  he  to  the  colonial  agents  in 
London,  "  set  upon  this  tax.  If  the  Americans  dis- 
like it  and  prefer  any  other  method,  I  shall  be  con- 
tent. Write,  therefore,  to  your  several  colonies,  and 
if  they  choose  any  other  mode,  I  shall  be  satisfied, 
provided  the  money  be  but  raised."  But  Britain, 
pushing  thus  more  earnestly  than  heretofore,  found 
herself,  much  to  her  surprise,  confronted  by  a  stout 
and  well-appointed  combatant,  not  to  be  browbeaten 
or  easily  set  aside. 

No  one  was  more  astonished  than  Grenville  that 
precisely  now  an  opposition  so  decided  should  be 
called  out.  He  had  meant  to  soften  his  measures  by 
certain  palliatives.  For  the  Southern  colonies  the 
raising  of  rice  was  favored;  the  timber  trade  and 
hemp  and  flax  in  the  North  received  substantial 
encouragement ;  most  important  of  all  measures,  the 
restrictions  were  taken  from  the  American  whale- 
fishery  even  though  it  was  quite  certain  under  such 
conditions  to  ruin  that  of  the  British  Isles.  Gren- 
ville felt  that  he  had  proceeded  prudently.  He  had 
asked  advice  of  many  Americans,  who  had  made  no 
objection  to,  and  in  some  cases  had  approved,  the 
Stamp  Act.  Men  of  the  best  opportunities  for  know- 
ing the  temper  of  the  colonies,  like  Shirley,  fifteen 
years  governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  for  a  time  com- 
mander-in-chief of  all  the  military  forces  in  America, 
had  decidedly  favored  it.  Nothing  better  than  tlie 
Stamp  Act  had  been  suggested,  though  Grenville  had 


COMING  OX  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.      207 

invited  suggestions  as  to  substitutes.  America,  how- 
ever, was  in  a  ferment,  and  England,  too,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  was  in  a  temper  scarcely  less  threat- 
ening. Something  must  be  done  at  once.  But  the 
responsibility  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  Gren- 
ville :  a  new  ministry  had  come  into  power,  and  he 
was  once  more  a  simple  member  of  Parliament. 

The  new  premier  was  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham, 
a  young  statesman  of  liberal  principles  and  excellent 
sense,  though  with  a  strange  incapacity  for  expressing 
himself,  which  made  him  a  cipher  in  debate.  The 
secretary  of  state,  in  whose  department  especially 
came  the  management  of  the  colonies,  was  General 
Conway,  a  brave  officer  and  admirable  man,  and  well 
disposed  toward  America.  On  the  14th  of  January, 
1765,  began  that  debate,  so  memorable  both  on  account 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  issues  involved,  rj,^^  ^^^^^^  ^^ 
and  the  ability  of  the  disputants  who  took  t^e'stam? °'' 
part.  A  few  Americans,  Franklin  and  ^'^'• 
other  colonial  agents  among  them,  listened  breath- 
lessly in  the  gallery,  and  transmitted  to  their  country 
a  broken,  imperfect  report  of  all  the  superb  forensic 
thunder.  Whoever  studies  candidly  the  accounts 
cannot  avoid  receiving  a  deep  impression  as  to  the 
power  and  substantial  good  purpose  of  the  great 
speakers,  and  as  to  the  grave  embarrassments  that 
clogged  them  in  striving  to  point  out  a  practicable 
course.  The  agitation  out  of  Avhich  parliamentary 
reform  was  to  come  was  already  in  the  air.  While 
none  of  the  actors  in  the  scene  appreciated  the  depth 
of  the  gulf  into  which  England  was  sinking,  all 
evidently  felt  the  pressure  of  evil.  Mansfield  appears 
ready  at  one  point  to  admit  abuse,  but  deprecates  inter- 


208  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

ference  with  the  constitution,  while  Pitt  denounces 
the  "  rotten  boroughs,"  and  declares  that  they  must 
be  lopped  off. 

Edmund  Burke  made  upon  this  occasion  his  maiden 
speech,  but  no  one  thought  it  worth  while,  in  those 
days  before  systematic  reporting  had  be- 
gun, to  record  the  words  of  the  unknown 
young   man.     Pitt,  who   followed   him,  hushed   all 
into  attention  as  he  rose  in  his  feebleness,  his  elo- 
quence becoming  more  touching  from  the 
strange  disease  by  which  he  was  afflicted, 
and  which  he  was  accused  of  using  purposely  to  in- 
crease the  effect  of  his  words;  he  first  praised  the 
effort  of  the  new  member,  and  then  proceeded  in 
that  address  so  worthy  of  his  fame.     Pitt's  advice 
was  that  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  repealed  abso- 
lutely and  immediately,  but  at  the  same  time  that 
the  sovereignty  of  England  over  the  colonies  should 
be  asserted  in  the  strongest  possible  terms,  and  be 
made  to  extend  to  every  point  of  legislation,  except 
that  of  taking  their  money  without  consent. 

"  There  is  an  idea  in  some  that  the  colonies  are 
virtually  represented  in  this  House.  They  never 
have  been  represented  at  all  in  Parliament.  I  would 
fain  know  by  whom  an  American  is  represented 
here.  Is  he  represented  by  any  knight-of-the-shire 
in  any  county  of  this  kingdom  ?  Would  to  God 
that  respectable  representation  were  augmented  by 
a  greater  number !  Or  will  you  tell  me  that  he  is 
represented  by  any  representative  of  a  borough,  a 
borough  which  perhaps  no  man  ever  saw?  This  is 
what  is  called  the  rotten  part  of  the  constitution ; 
it  cannot  endure  the  century.     If  it  does  not  drop. 


COMING  OX  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.       209 

it  must  be  amputated.  The  idea  of  a  virtual  repre- 
sentation of  America  in  this  House  is  the  most  con- 
temptible that  ever  entered  into  the  head  of  a  man. 
It  does  not  deserve  a  serious  refutation." 

Later  in  the  winter,  when  the  debate  was  renewed 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Camden,  chief  justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  supported  the  views 
of  Pitt  in  a  strain  which  the  latter  called 
divine.  He  tried  to  establish  by  a  learned  citation 
of  precedents  that  the  parts  and  estates  of  the  realm 
had  not  been  taxed  until  represented;  but  as  if  he 
felt  that  abuses  had  accumulated,  he  declared  that, 
if  the  right  of  the  Americans  to  tax  themselves 
could  not  be  established  in  this  way,  it  would  be 
well  to  give  it  to  them  from  principles  of  natural 
iustice.      Amonsf   those  who   replied,  the 

•'  °  ^  .         Mansfield. 

most  noteworthy  was  Lord  Mansfield,  chief 

justice  of   England,  who  declared,  in  opposition  to 

Camden,  that,  — 

"The  doctrine  of  representation  seemed  ill-founded. 
There  are  twelve  million  people  in  England  and 
Ireland  who  are  not  represented;  the  notion  now 
taken  up,  that  every  subject  must  be  represented  by 
deputy,  is  purely  ideal.  There  can  be  .no  doubt,  my 
lord,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  are  as  much 
represented  in  Parliament  as  the  greatest  part  of  the 
people  of  England  are  represented,  among  nine  mil- 
lion of  whom  there  are  eight  million  who  have  no 
votes  in  electing  members  of  Parliament.  Every 
objection,  therefore,  to  the  dependency  of  the  col- 
onies upon  Parliament,  which  arises  to  it  upon  the 
ground  of  representation,  goes  to  the  Avhole  present 
constitution  of  Great  Britain,  and  I  suppose  it  is  not 


210  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOINI. 

meant  to  new-model  that  too  !  A  member  of  Parlia- 
ment chosen  by  any  borongh  re})resents  not  only  the 
constituents  and  inhabitants  of  that  particular  place, 
but  he  represents  the  inhabitants  of  every  other  bor- 
ough in  Great  Britain.  lie  re})resents  the  city  of 
London  and  all  other  the  Commons  of  this  land  and 
inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  and  dominions  of  Great 
Britain,  and  is  in  duty  and  conscience  bound  to  take 
care  of  their  interests." 

When,  after  the  speech  of  Mansfield,  the  subject 
came  to  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  matter 
stood  in  his  favor  b}"  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
to  five.  In  the  Commons  the  majority  on  the  same 
side  was  as  overwhelming. 

Looking  back  upon  this  momentous  debate  after 
a  century  and  a  quarter  has  elapsed,  what  are  we  to 
The  question  ^'^Y  ^^  ^*^  ^^^^  uicrits  of  it  ?  England  has 
Bummedup.  completely  changed  since  then  her  colo- 
nial policy,  but  no  sober  second  thought  has  induced 
her  historians  to  believe  that  the  jjosition  of  the  gov- 
ernment was  plainly  a  wrong  one.  Pitt  and  Cam- 
den turned  the  scale  for  us  in  the  Stamp  Act  matter : 
their  declarations  put  backbone  into  the  colonial 
I'csistance,  and  dislieartened  the  ministry  in  England ; 
but  Pitt's  opinions  were  declared  at  the  time  to  be 
peculiar  to  himself  and  Loi-d  Camden,  and  have  ever 
since,  in  England,  lieen  treated  as  untenable.^  JNIans- 
field's  theory  of  "  virtual  representation,"  —  that  a 
representative  represents  the  whole  realm,  not  merely 
his  own  constituency,  "  all  other  the  Commons  of  this 
land,  and  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  and 
dominions  of  Great  Britain,  and   is  in   duty  and  con- 

1  Massey:  History  of  Reign  of  George  III,  I,  p.  262. 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION,       211 

science  bound  to  take  care  of  their  interests,"  —  is  de- 
clared by  another  writer  to  be  grandly  true,  though, 
to  be  sure,  somewhat  overstrained  as  regards  the 
colonies.  Burke,  a  few  years  afterwards,  addressing 
the  electors  of  Bristol,  developed  the  doctrine  elab- 
orately. Mansfield  was  right  in  urging  that  the 
constitution  knows  no  limitation  of  the  power  of  Par- 
liament, and  no  distinction  between  the  power  of 
taxation  and  other  kinds  of  legislation.  The  abstract 
right,  continues  our  historian,  was  unquestionably  on 
the  side  of  the  minister  and  Parliament  who  had 
imposed  the  tax,  and  that  right  is  still  acted  upon. 
In  1868,  in  the  trial  of  Governor  Eyre  of  Jamaica, 
the  English  Judge  Blackburn  decided  "  although 
the  general  rule  is  that  the  legislative  assembly  lias 
the  sole  right  of  imposing  taxes  in  the  colony,  yet 
when  the  imperial  legislature  chooses  to  impose  taxes, 
according  to  the  rule  of  English  law  they  have  a 
right  to  do  it."  ^     Lecky  says  :  — 

"  It  was  the  first  principle  of  the  constitution,  that 
a  member  of  Parliament  was  the  representative  not 
merely  of  his  own  constituency,  but  also  of  the  whole 
empire.  Men  connected  with,  or  at  least  specially 
interested  in  the  colonies,  always  found  their  way 
into  Parliament ;  and  the  very  fact  that  the  colonial 
arguments  were  maintained  with  transcendent  power 
within  its  walls  was  sufiicient  to  show  that  the  colo- 
nies were  virtually  represented." 

Lecky,  however,  even  while  thus  arguing,  admits 
that  the  Stamp  Act  did  unquestionably  infringe  upon 
a  great  principle  ;  and  he  acknowledges  that  the  doc- 
trine, that  taxation  and  representation  are  inseparably 

1  Yonge  :  Constitutional  History  of  England,  p.  6(5. 


212  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

connected,  lies  at  the  very  root  of  the  English  con- 
ception of  political  liberty.  It  was  only  by  straining 
matters  that  the  colonies  could  be  said  to  be  virtu- 
ally represented,  and  in  resisting  the  Stamp  Act  the 
principle  involved  was  the  same  as  that  which  led 
Hampden  to  refuse  to  pay  the  ship-money.^ 

It  is  only  fair  for  the  present  generation  of  Ameri- 
cans to  weigh  arguments  like  those  of  Mansfield,  and 
to  understand  how  involved  the  case  was.  The 
statesmen  of  the  time  of  George  III  were  neither 
simpletons  nor  utterly  ruthless  oppressors.  They 
were  men  of  fair  purposes  and  sometimes  of  great 
abilities,  not  before  their  age  in  knowledge  of  national 
economy  and  political  science ;  still,  however,  sin- 
cerely loving  English  freedom,  and,  with  such  light 
as  they  had,  striving  to  rule  in  a  proper  manner  the 
great  realm  which  was  given  to  them  to  be  guided. 
In  ways  which  the  wisest  of  them  did  not  fully  appre- 
ciate, the  constitution  had  undergone  deterioration 
through  the  carelessness  of  the  people  and  the  arbi- 
trary course  on  the  part  of  the  ministers ;  and  it  is 
a  mark  of  greatness  in  Camden,  that,  learned  lawyer 
though  he  was,  he  felt  disposed  to  rest  the  cause  of 
the  colonies  on  the  basis  of  "  natural  justice,"  rather 
than  upon  the  technicalities  with  which  it  was  his 
province  to  deal.  In  the  shock  of  the  Stamp  Act 
and  Wilkes  agitations  England  came  to  herself,  and 
by  going  back  to  the  primeval  principles,  started  on 
a  course  of  reform  by  no  means  yet  complete.  At 
that  very  time  Richard  Bland  of  Virginia,  anticipat- 
ing by  ^  century  the  spirit  and  methods  of  the 
constitutional  writers,  of  whom  E.  A.  Freeman  and 

1  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  p.  353,  etc. 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.      213 

Bishop  Stubbs  are  the  best-known  examples,  uttered 
sentences  which  might  well  have  been  taken  as  their 
motto  by  the  "  Friends  of  the  People,"  the  "  Society 
of  the  Bill  of  Rights,"  and  the  other  organizations  in 
England  which  just  now  or  soon  after  began  to  be 
active  for  the  salvation  of  their  country.  He  derived 
the  English  constitution  from  Anglo-Saxon  princi- 
ples of  the  most  perfect  equality,  which  invested 
every  freeman  with  a  right  to  vote. 

"  If  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of  Britain  are  deprived 
of  the  high  privilege  of  being  electors,  it  would  be  a 
work  worthy  of  the  best  patriotic  spirits  of  the  nation 
to  restore  the  constitution  to  its  pristine  perfection."  ^ 

Much  as  Pitt  and  Camden  were  admired,  and  pow- 
erful as  was  their  brave  denunciation  of  the  Stamp 
Act  and  their  demand  for  its  repeal,  their  famous 
position  that  a  distinction  must  be  made  between 
taxation  and  legislation,  and  that  while  Parliament 
could  not  tax,  it  could  legislate,  seemed  no  more  ten- 
able to  Americans  than  it  did  to  Englishmen.  The 
colonial  leaders,  following,  no  doubt  unconsciously, 
the  precedent  of  the  thirteenth  century,  soon  passed 
on  from  demanding  representation  as  a  condition 
of  taxation,  to  demanding  representation  as  a  condi- 
tion of  legislation  of  every  kind  ;  they  denied  utterly 
the  power  of  Parliament  to  interfere  in  any  of  their 
affairs ;  they  owed  allegiance  to  the  King,  but  of 
Parliament  they  were  completely  independent.  So 
Franklin  had  already  declared.  Tliis  position  was 
shocking  to  Pitt,  and  he  would  have  been  as  willing 
to  suppress  its  upholders  as  was  Lord  North  himself. 

It  is  making  no  arrogant  claim  to  say  that  in  all 

1  Quoted  by  Bancroft, 


214  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

this   preliminary  controversy  the   American   leaders 
show  a  nuicli  better  appreciation    of   the 

Bupeiior  ap-  -*■  ^ 

'rnu.'ric  m  ^^  principles  of  Anglo-Saxon  liberty,  and  a 
KuuoKiiien  of     management    much    more    statesmanlike, 

Anglo-Saxon  &  ' 

freedom.  than  cvcn  the  best  men  across  the  water. 
It  was  to  be  expected.  "  Political  power  was  incom- 
parably more  diffused ;  the  representative  system  in- 
comparably less  corrupt  than  at  home."  ^  As  far  as 
New  England  is  concerned,  there  is  no  denying  the 
oft-quoted  assertion  of  Stoughton,  that  God  sifted  a 
whole  nation  to  procure  the  seed  out  of  which  the 
people  was  to  be  developed.  The  colonists  were 
picked  men  and  women,  and  the  circumstances  un- 
der which  they  were  placed  at  their  arrival  on  these 
shores  forced  upon  them  a  revival  of  institutions 
which  in  England  had  long  been  overlaid.  The  pop- 
ular moot  had  reappeared  in  all  its  old  vigor,  and 
wrought  in  the  society  its  natural  beneficent  effect. 
Together  with  intelligence  and  self-reliance  in  every 
direction,  it  had  especially  trained  in  the  people  tlie 
political  sense.  In  utter  blindness  the  Englishman  of 
our  revolutionary  period  looked  down  upon  tlie  col- 
onist as  wanting  in  reason  and  courage.  Really  the 
colonist  was  a  superior  being,  both  as  compared  with 
the  ordinary  British  citizen  and  with  the  noble. 
Originally  of  the  best  English  strain,  a  century  and  a 
lialf  of  training,  under  the  institution  l)est  adapted  of 
all  liuman  institutions  to  quicken  manhood,  had  had 
its  effect.  What  influence  had  surrounded  lord  and 
commoner  across  the  water  to  develop  in  them  a  capa- 
city to  cope  with  the  child  of  tlie  Puritan,  schooled 
thoroughly  in  the  town-meeting  I 

1  Lecky  :  XVIIItli  Century,  III,  p.  29G. 


co:\iiNa  ox  of  americax  revoh:tion.     215 

Tlie  discontent  was  most  marked  in  jNIassaclnisetts. 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  ITampsliire, 
closely  connected,  took  their  tone  from  her.  In  New 
York  was  a  party  prepared  to  go  all  lengths  with  the 
most  strenuous,  step  for  step  ;  there  was  a  party,  too, 
better  placed  as  regards  wealth  and  position,  — the  rich 
merchants,  the  Episcopalians  generally,  the  holders  of 
the  great  feudal  estates,  the  Dutch  farmers,  and  recent 
German  settlers,  —  who  were  either  actively  loyal  to 
the  Crown  or  quite  apathetic.  In  Pennsylvania,  there 
were  strong  opposers  of  the  English  policy,  whose 
leading  representative,  noAv  that  Franklin  was  ab- 
sent in  England,  was  John  Dickinson,  very  famous 
tlirough  tlie  "  Farmer's  Letters,"  well-reasoned  papers 
in  which  was.  given  a  popular  explanation  of  the 
unconstitutionality  of  government  acts :  the  power- 
ful sect  of  Quakers,  however,  as  the  trouble  deepened, 
set  themselves  against  resistance  to  the  powers  that 
were ;  and  the  Germans  felt  little  interest.  Passing 
to  the  South,  Virginia  was  all  alive.  The  aristocracy 
of  great  tobacco-planters,  who  held  the  power,  full  of 
vigor  and  trained  to  struggle  in  the  long-continued 
disputes  with  different  royal  governors,  stood  most 
stubbornly  against  British  encroachment.  The  col- 
ony was  far  enough  from  democracy  ;  the  large  class 
of  poor  landless  whites  had  scarcely  moi'c  interest  in 
politics  than  the  slaves ;  but  the  House  of  Burgesses 
understood  well  the  championship  of  American  priv- 
ileges, and  was  prepared  to  second,  even  once  or 
twice  to  anticipate,  iNIassachusetts  in  measures  of 
opposition.  Influenced  in  the  early  days  by  Patrick 
Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  Dabney  Carr,  it  was 
sometimes  in  advance  of  the  Northern  province,  and 


216  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

a  little  later,  when  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Mad- 
ison came  forward,  it  stood  certainly  foremost.  In 
Soutli  Carolina,  too,  was  a  party  headed  by  Cliristo- 
pher  Gadsden,  prepared  to  take  the  advanced  ground. 
In  the  preliminary  years,  however,  Massachusetts 
was  very  plainly  before  all  others,  according  to  the 
LeaderBhipof  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  America  and  England.^     If 


Massachu- 
aette. 


sometimes  another  province  was  in  advance 
in  taking  a  bold  step,  it  was  perhaps  due  to 
the  management  of  the  skilful  Massachusetts  states- 
men, who,  for  reasons  of  policy,  held  in  check  their 
own  assembly,  that  local  pride  elsewhere  might  be 
conciliated,  and  America,  generally,  be  brought  to 
present  an  unbroken  front. 

Discontent    with    England    became   rife    in   New 

1  On  this  point,  which  local  pride  might  dispute,  a  few  authorities 
may  be  cited.  Englishmen  at  the  time  felt  as  follows:  "  In  all  the  late 
American  disturbances,  and  in  every  thought  against  the  authority  of 
the  British  Parliament,  the  people  of  Massachusetts  Bay  have  taken  the 
lead.  Every  new  move  towards  independence  has  been  theirs ;  and  in 
every  fresh  mode  of  resistance  against  the  law  they  have  first  set  the 
example,  and  then  issued  out  admonitory  letters  to  the  other  colonies 
to  follow  it."  —  Mauduit's  Short  View  of  the  Xew  England  Colonies,  p.  5. 
See,  also,  Anburey's  Travels,  I,  p.  310.  Hutchinson  :  History  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  III,  p.  257.  Rivington :  Independence  the  Object  of  Con- 
gress in  America,  London,  177G,  p.  15.  Lord  Camden  called  Massachusetts 
"  the  ring-leading  colony."  Coming  to  writers  of  our  own  time,  Lecky 
declares.  History  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  III,  p.  3SfJ:  "  The  central 
and  southern  colonies  long  hesitated  to  follow  New  England.  Massa- 
chusetts had  thrown  herself  with  fierce  energy  into  the  conflict,  and 
soondrew  the  other  provinces  in  her  wake."  Says  J.  R.  Seeley  :  Expan- 
sion of  England,  pp.  154, 155  :  "  The  spirit  driving  the  colonies  to  sepa- 
ration from  England,  a  principle  attracting  and  conglobing  them  into 
a  new  union  among  tliemselves,  —  how  early  did  this  spirit  show  itself 
in  the  New  England  colonit's!  It  was  not  present  in  all  the  colonies. 
It  was  not  present  in  Virginia;  but  when  the  colonial  discontents  burst 
into  a  flame,  then  was  the  moment  when  Virginia  went  over  to  New 
England,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  found  the  power  to  turn 
the  offended  colonists  into  a  new  nation." 


COMING  ON  OF  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.      217 

England  and  Virginia  before  it  appeared  elsewhere 
in  America.  The  oppressive  trade  regulations  bore 
upon  manufactures  and  commerce ;  and  since  most 
of  the  manufactures  were  in  New  England,  and  the 
principal  articles  of  export  were  New  England  tim- 
ber and  Virginia  tobacco,  those  colonies  first  became 
exasperated.  The  Stamp  Act,  however,  bore  upon 
all,  and  from  1764  the  backward  colonies  began  to 
show  the  same  wrathful  temper.  To  preserve  strict 
truth,  the  historian  must  not  omit  to  state  that  a 
certain  discreditable  reason  had  its  part  in  bringing 
about  American  resistance,  as  well  as  the  just  indig- 
nation at  the  selfish  and  arbitrary  policy  which  ground 
the  country  down.  A  debt  of  eight  or  nine  million 
pounds  was  owed  to  British  merchants,  and  this  debt, 
so  some  thought,  in  case  of  successful  revolt,  it  might 
be  possible  to  repudiate.^ 

1  Madison's  View,  XL,  and  Boucher,  quoted  by  Chamberlain,  "  John 
Adams,  the  Statesman  of  the  Revolution,"  p.  37. 


218  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION  A    STRUGGLE   OF 
PARTIES,    NOT   COUNTRIES. 

1776-1(83. 

The  condition  of  things  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  has  been  sufficiently  set  forth. 
Character  of  Gcoi'ge  III  had  bccu  cducatcd  carefully 
George  III.  under  the  influence  of  his  mother,  a  woman, 
who,  like  the  members  of  German  royal  families  at 
that  time  universally,  exaggerated  to  the  highest 
degree  the  prerogatives  of  the  King.  Her  constant 
exhortation,  ^  George,  be  a  King,"  is  said  to  have  in- 
fluenced her  son  much.  Jacobitism  had  been  utterly 
quenched  in  1745.  No  other  prince  since  Charles  II 
had  been  hailed  with  such  acclamation  as  George  HI, 
when  he  took  his  seat.  Whereas  the  prestige  of  the 
Kings  had  been  declining,  prerogative  and  the  jus 
divinum  now  began  to  be  fashionable  again.  The 
Tories  were  in  power,  and  the  great  Jacobite  fami- 
lies, giving  up  at  last  the  cause  of  the  Stuarts,  ral- 
lied round  the  Hanoverian  prince,  retaining  all  their 
old  anti-pojDular  ideas.  George  was  fairly  sensible, 
thoroughly  brave,  well-meaning,  and  sincerely  anxious 
to  bring  about  good  for  England,  not  postponing  the 
interests  of  his  kingdom,  as  his  two  predecessors  had 
done,  to  those  of  his  German   electorate.     He  was. 


THE   AMERICAN   REYOLUTIOX.  219 

however,  ignorant,  narrow-minded,  and  arbitrary,  and 
was  determined  to  make  himself  as  absolute  as  the 
Kings  of  Europe  in  general.  He  hesitated  at  no  cor- 
ruption, though  he  was  himself  honest,  and  by  means 
of  the  "King's  Friends,"  a  great  body  in  Parliament 
whom  he  won  to  himself  by  bribes,  he  grew  very  pow- 
erful. 

It  is  not  right,  however,  to  regard  George  III  as  a 
fair  representative  of  the  England  of  his  time,  nor  to 
think  that  in  the  great  war  of  the  Ameri- 
can  Revolution,  of  which  on  the   British  Englishmen 

•  T       1  1  in  i  •  with  the 

side  he  was  the  central  hgure,  Americans  American 

struggle. 

were  really  fighting  England.  Says  a  mod- 
ern English  authority :  ^  "  Of  course,  Americans  regard 
independence  as  their  great  achievement.  In  this 
they  are  quite  right.  When,  however,  they  proceed  to 
regard  independence  as  a  victory  gained  over  England, 
their  enemy,  they  are  surely  egregiously  in  error.  .  .  . 
At  the  time  tlie  United  States  were  fighting  for  inde- 
pendence, England  was  fighting  for  her  liberties : 
the  common  enemy  was  the  Hanoverian  George  HI 
and  his  Germanized  Court.  .  .  .  When  the  news  was 
brought  to  London_that  the  United  States  hadap- 
pealed  to  arms,  Willkim_  Pitt,  an  Eiiglishnianj_  if 
there  ever  was  one,  rose  in  his  seat  in  Parliament,  and 
with^  uplifted  voice  thanked^God  tliat  the  American 
colonists  retained  enough  of  English  blood  to  fight  for 
their  rights.  Nine  Englishmen  out  of  every  ten  out- 
side of  Court  influence  similarly  rejoiced.  Independ- 
ence day  is  as  much  a  red-letter  day  for  every  genuine 
Englishman  as  for  every  genuine  American.  And  so 
it  should  be :  Washington  but  trod  in  the  footsteps 

1  Westminster  Review,  March,  1889, 


220  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

of  Hampden  ;  his  task  was  easier  than  that  of  Hamp- 
den, and  the  solution  he  wrought,  which  an  interval 
of  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  practically  dictated, 
was  more  thorough."  The  writer  laments  the  es- 
trangement of  Americans  from  England.  "  England's 
sternest,  coldest,  most  critical  censors,  I  have  found 
among  descendants  of  the  old  settlers ;  surely  those 
retain  something  of  ancient  Puritan  bitterness.  The 
source  of  estrangement  I  am  inclined  to  trace  largely 
to  the  fact  that  the  average  American  reads  no  history 
but  United  States  history,  and  that  he  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  study." 

Vast  misapprehension  as  to  the  true  character  of 

the   American    Revolution   no   doubt  prevails :    the 

English   Radical  whose  words  have  been 

A  strife  on 

both  sides  of     ouoted  puts  the  case  none   too   strongly. 

the  ocean.  ^  r  a  j 

A  high  American  authority  ^  declares  that 
the  American  Revolution  was  not  a  quarrel  between 
two  peoples,  but  a  strife  between  two  parties  in  one 
people.  Conservatives  and  Liberals.  These  parties 
existed  in  both  countries ;  the  battle  between  them 
took  place  not  only  on  the  fields  of  America,  but  in 
the  British  Parliament  also,  some  of  the  fiercest  en- 
gagements in  the  latter  arena.  The  strife  took  place 
on  both  sides  of  the  water  with  nearly  equal  step, 
and  was  essentially  the  same  on  both  sides ;  so  that 
if,  at  the  close  of  the  French  War,  all  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  had  been  transported  to  America,  and 
all  the  people  of  America  to  Great  Britain,  and  put 
in  control  of  British  affairs,  the  American  Revolu- 
tion and  the  contemporary^  British  Revolution  might 

1  Hon.  Mellen  Chamberlain,  in  Winsor  :  Narrative  and  Critical  His- 
tory of  America,  VI,  Chap.  I, 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION.  221 

have  gone  on  just  the  same,  and  with  the  same  final 
result.  For  a  long  time  both  peoples  had  had  a 
common  history ;  but  in  the  reaction  at  the  Restora- 
tion, the  British  race  in  England  passed  again  under 
the  power  of  prerogative,  exchanging  it  in  1688  for 
the  domination  of  a  Parliament  representing  only 
the  rich  and  high-placed,  —  by  no  means  the  mass  of 
the  nation.  In  Great  Britain,  therefore,  the  struggle 
was  to  recover  what  had  been  lost.  The  emigrants 
to  New  England,  on  the  contrary,  left  behind  insti- 
tutions which  were  monarchical,  both  in  Church  and 
State,  and  revived  ancient  institutions  which  were 
democratic.  They  fought,  therefore,  to  preserve 
what  had  been  retained,  not  to  recover  Avhat  had 
been  lost,  and  drew  with  them  into  the  contest  the 
rest  of  America. 

This  view  of  the  character  of  our  Revolutionary 
War  is  so  unfamiliar  that  it  is  worth  while  to  illus- 
trate it  with  some  fulness.  As  to  the  em-  Ability  and 
barrassments  which  the  King  and  his  pr™American 
ministers  underwent  from  a  powerful  op-  ^'^''°°^^^^- 
position,  in  their  attempts  to  coerce  America,  the 
latest  historian  of  the  eighteenth  century  makes  out 
a  strong  case.  From  the  first,  the  immense  influence 
of  Pitt,  soon  to  be  Earl  of  Chatham,  then  the  most 
powerful  of  subjects,  was  on  the  side  of  America. 
We  have  seen  him  justify,  with  all  his  eloquence, 
the  resistance  to  the  Stamp  Act,  seconded  by  Lord 
Camden,  who  also  had  great  influence.  At  the  time 
of  the  tea  duty,  there  was  in  Parliament  a  strong 
section  supporting  the  Americans,  and  outside  of 
Parliament  a  still  more  democratic  party  who  kept 
the  country  in  alarm  through  fierce  political  agitation  ; 


222  ANGLO-SAXON   FRJ^EDOM. 

all  which,  as  was  truly  said  by  Lord  North,  lured  on 
America  and  blocked  the  efforts  of  the  ministry.^ 
To  be  sure,  the  opposition  were  divided  among  them- 
selves. Dean  Tucker  and  Adam  Smith  favored  let- 
ting the  colonies  go.^  Burke  and  Chatham,  on  the 
other  hand,  wished  to  retain  them,  but  insisted  upon 
a  repeal  of  all  coercive  and  aggressive  laws.  Again, 
Chatham  always  maintained  that  the  American  cause 
was  essentially  that  of  the  Whigs.  No  taxation  with- 
out representation  "  is  the  common  cause  of  the 
Whigs  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  on 
this  "  ;  he  extolled  the  Americans  as  "  Whigs  in  prin- 
ciple and  heroes  in  conduct,"  and  openly  wished 
them  success.  Others  of  that  i)arty,  however,  like 
Grenville,  declared  that  the  American  cause  was 
anti-Whig,^  because,  refusing  the  jurisdiction  of  Par- 
liament, its  supporters  sought  to  extend  tlie  power  of 
the  King.  It  must  be  admitted  that  some  of  the  am- 
munition of  the  American  champions  was  drawn  from 
Tory  arsenals,  and  this  circumstance  naturally  tended 
to  alienate  from  them  Whigs  who  were  strict  con- 
Fear  for  Eng-  structionists.  The  difference  tended  to 
Arae'dclwere  disappear  as  the  contest  proceeded:  the 
conquered.  wj-^igg  generally  became  pro-American, 
fearing  that  the  conquest  of  those  with  ^\'hom  they 
sympathized  in  America  would  also  establish  absolu- 
tism in  England,  —  an  opinion  expressed  by  Chatham, 
Fox,  Horace  AValpole,  and  Burke.'* 

Nor  were  the  Whigs  ever  in  full  sympathy  with 
Position  of  ^^^^  Radicals.  English  Radicalism  was  born 
Burke.  -j^  1Y69,  in  the  time  of  the  Wilkes  disturb- 

1  Lecky :  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  pp.  403,  404.        2  n^id.^  p.  421,  etc. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  587.  *  Ihid.,  pp.  589,  590. 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION.  223 

ances.  Then  began  the  agitation  for  parliamentary 
reform,  —  a  matter  which  the  Whigs  took  up  but 
slowly,  differing  among  themselves.  Burke,  for  in- 
stance, though  he  taught  the  fundamental  Whig  doc- 
trine, that  Sovereign,  Lords,  and  Commons  must  be 
regarded  as  trustees  of  the  people,  and  although  he 
advocated  the  publication  of  the  discussions  of  Par- 
liament and  other  advanced  measures,  was  yet  stub- 
bornly against  "levelling  doctrines,"  opposing  all 
attempts  to  lower  the  suffrage,  to  abolish  rotten  bor- 
oughs, to  add  to  shire-representation,  to  modify  in 
any  way  the  framework  of  Parliament.  "  The  ma- 
chine is  well  enough  to  answer  any  good  purpose, 
provided  the  materials  were  sound."  And  again : 
"  Our  representation  is  as  nearly  perfect  as  the  neces- 
sary imperfection  of  human  affairs  and  of  human 
creatures  will  suffer  it  to  be."  ^  As  to  parliamentary 
reform,  he  was  in  opposition  to  the  elder  and  the 
younger  Pitt,  both  of  whom  favored  it,  and  he  was 
far  away  on  many  points  from  the  "  Society  of  the 
Supporters  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,"  who  demanded 
thorough  government  of,  by,  and  for  the  people.  In 
o^jposing,  as  he  did  later  in  life,  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, he  only  carried  out  his  earlier  principles.  The 
Radicals  had  no  friendship  for  him.  Mrs.  Macaulay, 
their  ablest  writer,  said  of  his  "  Thoughts  on  the 
Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents,"  that  it  contained 
"  a  poison  sufficient  to  destroy  all  the  little  virtue  and 
undei-standing  of  sound  policy  left  in  the  nation ; 
and  that  it  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  divert  the  nation 
from  organic  and  truly  useful  reforms  to  a  revival  of 
aristocratic  faction."  ^ 

1  Lecky :  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  p.  222.  2  lUd.,  p.  224. 


224  AXGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

But  for  these  dissensions  in  the  opposition,  the 
King  and  his  party,  energetic  though  they  were, 
coukl  scarcely  have  taken  a  step.  The  opposition 
grew  to  be  very  formidable  in  spite  of  the  want  of 
union.  Though  the  anti-American  majority  in  Par- 
liament in  1774  was  heavy,  the  American  cause  was 
powerfully  upheld,  and  there  was  reason  to  believe 
that  if  the  masses  were  counted,  England  was  for 
the  rebels.     Common  people  held  the  war 

The  masses         •         ^  -i  o 

pro-Ameri-       m  abhorreucc.     bo,  too,  the  manuracturers 

can. 

and  traders  :  these  often  were  actuated  by 
a  selfish  motive,  for  the  war  disturbed  business ;  and 
yet  it  was  mainly  the  demands  of  the  commercial 
class  which  had  brought  the  war  about.  Non-con- 
formists were  steadily  and  zealously  pro-American. 
Dr.  Price,  a  great  light  among  them,  expressed 
American  ideas  in  his  "  Essay  on  Liberty,"  and  was 
only  restrained  by  ill-health  from  going  to  America 
to  manage  the  finances.  In  another  sphere,  the 
tried  and  skilful  soldiers,  Amherst,  Conway,  and 
Barre,  did  not  conceal  their  sympathy.  Fox  eulo- 
gized Montgomery,  slain  at  Quebec,  in  the  House  of 
Commons ;  Avhile  the  Duke  of  Richmond  said  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  after  Bunker  Hill,  that  the  Ameri- 
cans were  not  in  rebellion,  but  resisting  acts  of  the 
most  unexampled  cruelty  and  oppression.  This  re- 
markable nobleman,  who  had  gone  in  1776  to  France 
to  claim  an  old  French  peerage,  wrote  from  Paris  to 
Burke,  that  the  political  condition  of  England  was 
one  reason  why  he  wislied  to  claim  the  French  peer- 
age. He  believed  England  to  be  on  the  verge  of  a 
despotism  more  oppressive  tlian  that  of  France,  for  it 
would  be  less  tempered  by  habit  and  manners.     He 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTIOX.  225 

himself  was  likely  to  be  proscribed,  and  in  that  case, 
"if  America  be  not  open  to  receive  us,  France  is 
some  retreat,  and  a  peerage  here  is  something."  ^ 
The  gleeful  exclamation  of  Horace  Walpole,  in  the 
following  year,  over  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  and 
the  declaration  of  his  belief  that  the  Americans  were 
better  Englishmen  than  the  English  themselves,  has 
already  been  quoted.^  In  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  American  army  was  spoken  of  as  "  our  army." 
William  Pitt,  in  1781,  called  the  attempt  to  reduce 
America,  "  most  accursed,  wicked,  barbarous,  cruel, 
unnatural,  diabolical."  In  the  ruling  class,  a  minor- 
ity containing  personages  of  the  highest  rank  and  the 
ablest  men  in  the  nation  had  identified  itself  com- 
pletely with  the  insurgents.  They  resisted  with  pas- 
sion ;  for  they  came  to  feel  —  a  feeling  which  modern 
writers  declared  thoroughly  justified  —  that  the  defeat 
of  the  Americans  would  probably  be  followed  by  a 
subvei'sion  of  the  constitution  of  England.^  Mean- 
time, among  the  people,  the  war  was  to  the  last 
degree  unpopular.  London  was  sometimes  at  the 
mercy  of  mobs ;  the  army  could  be  maintained  only 
by  press-gangs,  by  emptying  into  the  regiments  the 
prisons,  and  by  buying  Hessians. 

If  the  King  and  his  ministers  were  embarrassed  by 
an  opposition,  the  American  patriots  were  no  less 
embarrassed.      An   enerofetic  minority,  in 

^  "^  .  Strength  of 

fact,   broup-ht    to     pass    the     Revolution,  Toryism  in 

,  .  America. 

which    proceeding    especially    from    New 
England,  was  carried  through  in  spite  of  a  majority 

1  Burke's  Correspondence,  II,  pp.  112-120 ;  in  Lecky,  III,  p.  591. 

2  p.  110.  3  Buckle  :  History  of  Civilization,  I,  p.  345,  American  ed. 


226  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

in  the  colonies,  —  a  majority  in  great  part  quite 
apathetic,  but  to  some  extent  actively  resisting.^ 
Washington  feared  in  1776  that  if  his  army  were 
unsuccessful,  the  enemy  would  recruit  faster  than  the 
patriots.  The  British  government  were  sanguine  as 
to  help  from  loyalists,  and  sent  out  at  one  time  equip- 
ments for  eight  thousand  men,  who,  it  was  thought, 
could  easily  be  raised  among  its  friends.  Large 
bodies  in  America  were  dragged  into  the  war  with 
extreme  reluctance.  Many  rich  Southern  planters 
opposed;  while  the  Pennsylvania  Quakers  were  so 
r3calcitrant  as  to  draw  upon  themselves  from  stalwart 
Samuel  Adams,  the  "  Father  of  the  Revolution,"  the 
charge  of  being  "  puling,  pusillanimous  cowards." 
In  New  York,  two-thirds  of  the  property  was  in  loy- 
alist hands ;  and,  indeed,  outside  the  city  there  was 
no  serious  disaffection  in  the  colony.  Galloway,  a 
Tory  active  in  the  Congress  of  177-4:,  who  afterwards 
went  to  England,  said  before  the  House  of  Commons 
that  only  one-fourth  of  the  soldiers  in  arms  were 
really  Americans.  This,  of  course,  was  an  exagger- 
ation, but  there  is  no  doubt  that  ultimately  recruits 
to  the  "  Continentals "  were  in  great  part  recently 
arrived  Irish  and  Scotch  immigrants.  The  Irish,  in 
particular,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  sustained 
the  American  cause,  while  many  Scotch  were  Tories.^ 
In  1780,  the  force  of  the  Revolution  was  so  far  spent, 
and  the  opposition  so  powerful,  that  the  patriot  cause 
was  completely  dependent  upon  France.  The  emi- 
gration of  Tories,  when  the  day  was  at  last  won,  was 

1  Lecky:  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  p.  458,  etc. 

2  Ramsay :  History  of  American  Revolution,  Appendix,  No.  IV.  Dub- 
lin, 1795. 


THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  227 

relatively  as  great  as  that  of  the  Huguenots  after  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  total  num- 
ber is  estimated  to  have  been  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand.^  In  this  multitude  were  comprised  only 
such,  with  their  families,  as  had  been  active  for  the 
■  King.  The  indifferent,  who  had  lent  no  helping  hand 
to  the  patriots,  must  have  been  a  multitude  much 
larger;  these  remained  behind,  inertly  submitting  to 
the  new  order  of  things,  as  they  had  swayed  inertly 
this  way  or  that,  following  the  power  and  direction  of 
the  blast  of  war. 

Nor  were  the  Tories  only  important  because  they 
were  numerous.  They  were  generally  of  a  character 
that  made  their  resistance  most  effective.^ 
"  History,  at  this  late  date,  can  certainly  and  character 
afford  a  compassionate  word  for  the  Tories, 
who,  besides  having  been  forced  to  atone  in  life  for 
the  mistake  of  taking  the  wrong  side,  by  undergoing 
exile  and  confiscation,  have  received  while  in  their 
graves  little  but  detestation.  At  the  evacuation 
of  Boston,  says  Mr.  Sabine  in  the  '  American 
Loyalists,'  eleven  hundred  loyalists  retired  to  Nova 
Scotia  with  the  British  army,  of  whom  one  hundred 
and  two  were  men  in  official  station,  eighteen  were 
clergymen,  two  hundred  and  thirteen  were  merchants 
and  traders  of  Boston,  three  hundred  and  eighty-two 
were  farmers  and  mechanics,  in  great  part  from  the 
country.  The  mere  mention  of  calling  and  station 
in  the  case  of  the  forlorn,  expatriated  company  con- 
veys a  suggestion  of  respectability.    Just  as  numerous 

1  Lecky  :  XVIIIth  Century,  IV,  p.  285. 

2  A  passage  here  is  taken  from  the  writer's  "  Samuel  Adams,"  Chap. 
XVIII,  which  see  for  a  fuller  consideration  of  the  subject. 


228  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

and  respectable  were  the  exiles  in  the  other  colonies. 
There  were,  in  fact,  no  better  men  or  women  in 
America,  as  regards  intelligence,  substantial  good 
purpose,  and  piety.  They  had  made  the  one  great 
mistake  of  conceding  a  supremacy  over  themselves 
to  distant  arbitrary  masters,  which  a  population 
nurtured  under  the  influence  of  the  revived  folk- 
moot  ought  by  no  means  to  have  made ;  but  with 
this  exception,  the  exiles  were  not  at  all  inferior 
in  worth  of  every  kind  to  those  who  drove  them 
forth.  The  Tories  were  generally  people  of  sub- 
stance ;  their  stake  in  the  country  was  greater  even 
than  that  of  their  opponents ;  their  patriotism,  no 
doubt,  was  to  the  full  as  fervent.  There  is  much 
that  is  melancholy,  of  which  the  world  knows  but 
little,  connected  with  their  expulsion  from  the  land 
they  sincerely  loved.  The  estates  of  the  Tories 
were  among  the  fairest ;  their  stately  mansions  stood 
on  the  sightliest  hill-brows ;  the  richest  and  best 
tilled  meadows  were  their  farms ;  the  long  avenue, 
the  l)road  lawn,  the  trim  hedge  about  the  garden, 
servants,  plate,  pictures,  —  the  varied  circumstance, 
external  and  internal,  of  dignified  and  generous 
housekeeping,  —  for  the  most  part  these  things  were 
at  the  homes  of  Tories.  They  loved  beauty,  dignity, 
and  refinement.  It  seemed  to  belong  to  such  forms 
of  life  to  be  generously  loyal  to  King  and  Parlia- 
ment, without  questioning  too  narrowly  as  to  rights 
and  taxes.  The  rude  contacts  of  the  town-meetings 
were  full  of  things  to  offend  the  taste  of  a  gentle- 
man. Tlii3  Crown  officials  were  courteous,  well-born, 
congenial,  having  behind  them  the  far-away  nobles 
and   the    Sovereign,   who   rose    in   the    imagination, 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  229 

unknown  and  at  a  distance  as  they  were,  surrounded 
by  a  brilliant  glamour.  Was  there  not  a  certain 
meanness  in  haggling  as  to  the  tax  which  these 
polite  placemen  and  their  superiors  might  choose  to 
exact,  or  inquiring  narrowly  as  to  their  credentials 
when  they  chose  to  exercise  authority?  The  grace- 
ful, the  chivalrous,  the  poetic,  the  spirits  over  whom 
these  feelings  had  poAver,  were  sure  to  be  Tories. 
Democracy  was  something  rough  and  coarse ;  inde- 
pendence, —  what  was  it  but  a  severing  of  those 
connections  of  which  a  colonist  ought  to  be  proudest ! 
It  was  an  easy  thing  to  be  led  into  taking  sides 
against  notions  like  these.  Kence,  when  the  country 
rose,  many  a  high-bred,  honorable  gentleman  turned 
the  key  in  his  door,  drove  down  his  line  of  trees  with 
his  refined  dame  and  carefully  guarded  children  at 
his  side,  turned  his  back  on  his  handsome  estate,  and 
put  himself  under  the  shelter  of  the  proud  banner  of 
St.  George.  It  was  a  mere  temporary  refuge,  he. 
thought,  and  as  he  pronounced  upon  '  Sam  Adams ' 
and  the  rabble  a  gentlemanly  execration,  he  promised 
himself  a  speedy  return,  when  discipline  and  loyalty 
should  have  put  down  the  ship-yard  men  and  the 
misled  rustics. 

"  But  the  return  was  never  to  be.  The  day  went 
against  them;  they  crowded  into  ships  with  the 
gates  of  their  country  barred  forever  be-  pathetic  cir- 
hind  them.  They  found  themselves  penni-  of'theh-'expa. 
less  upon  shores  often  bleak  and  barren,  '"''^lo'^- 
always  showing  scant  hospitality  to  outcasts  who 
came  empty-handed,  and  there  they  were  forced  to 
begin  li'^e  anew.  Having  chosen  their  side,  their 
lot  was  1  evitable.     Nor  are  the  victors  to  be  harshly 


230  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

judged.  There  was  no  unnecessary  cruelty  shown 
to  the  loyalists.  The  land  they  had  left  belonged 
to  the  new  order  of  things,  and,  good  men  and 
women  though  they  were,  there  was  nothing  for 
them,  and  justly  so,  but  to  bear  their  expatriation 
and  poverty  with  such  fortitude  as  they  could  find. 
Gray,  Clarke,  Erving,  and  Faneuil,  Royall  and 
Vassall,  Fayerweather  and  Leonard  and  Sewall, 
families  of  honorable  note,  bound  in  with  all  that 
was  best  in  the  life  of  the  Province,  who  now  can 
think  of  their  destiny  without  pity  ?  " 

The  war  of  the  American  Revolution,  then,  was  a 
strife  not  of  countries,  but  of  parties,  —  a  strife  carried 
Victory  of  the  ou  both  in   England   and  in  America, — 

popular  party  , 

on  both  Bides    bloodlcss  in  the  mother-land,  bloody  in  the 

of  the  Atlan-  -^ 

tic.  dependency,  —  but,   nevertheless,  a   strife 

carried  on  in  each  arena  for  the  preservation  of  the 
same  priceless  treasure,  —  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  — 
and  fought  through  with  similar  spirit.  On  one  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  victory  came  speedily.  In  America 
there  were  no  traditions  and  institutions,  rooted  for 
centuries,  to  be  upturned;  and  besides,  there  came 
most  timely  help  from  France.  We  are  to  see,  how- 
ever, how  victory  in  America  drew  necessarily  Avith 
it  victory  in  England.  It  has  long  been  delayed,  but 
it  has  been  steadily  coming,  until  at  the  present 
moment,  as  regards  popular  freedom,  the  two  coun- 
tries stand  nearly  together,  —  England,  perhaps, 
though  preserving  monarchical  forms,  and  much 
social  feudalism,  really  in  advance.  Popular  free- 
dom was  probably  saved  to  England  by  the  success 


THE   AAIERICAN   REVOLUTIOX.  2'51 

of  tlie  American  struggle ;  ^  and,  on  tlie  other  hand, 
America  has  derived  that  popular  freedom  nowhere 
but  from  the  mother-land,  through  the  struggles  of 
her  Alfred,  of  her  Langton  and  the  Barons  of  1215, 
of  her  Earl  Simon,  of  her  knights-of-the-shire,  her 
Ironsides,  her  supporters  of  the  Bill  of  Rights. 
What  a  noble  community  is  this,  —  common  striv- 
ing so  heroic  for  a  common  cause  of  such  supreme 
moment !  How  mean  the  nursing  of  petty  prejudice 
between  lands  so  linked ;  how  powerful  the  motive 
to  join  hand  with  hand  and  heart  with  heart ! 

1  Lecky :  XVIIIth  Century,  III,  p,  289 ;  see  also  Buckle,  as  before 
cited,  p.  225. 


232  ANGLO-SAXON  FllEEDOM. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

1783-1789. 

When  the  v^ar  of  the  American  Revolution  had 
been  brought  to  a  successful  issue,  and  the  Thirteen 
The  written  Coloiiics  stood  independent,  as  United 
uniq^ue  fea°t"  *  Statcs,  tlic  momcntous  question  at  once 
American  was  presented,  What  shall  be  the  form  of 
polity.  ^YiQ   i^iew   nation?     The    adoption    of    the 

Federal  Constitution  was  the  next  step  taken.  The 
only  unique  feature  of  the  American  polity,  as  the 
new  nation  took  shape,  was  the  provision  as  regards 
each  separate  State  and  as  regards  the  United  States, 
for  a  carefully  formulated  instrument,  to  be  drawn 
up  by  an  assembly  of  representatives  of  the  people 
distinct  from  the  legislative  assembly,  —  an  instru- 
ment to  be  interpreted  by  a  Supreme  Court  especially 
empowered  for  that  j^^^^T^''®'  —  ^^^  instrument,  by 
which  the  whole  work  of  law-making  shall  be  imper- 
atively controlled.  No  such  controlling  instrument 
In  England  ^^^^  guidcd  the  development  of  Great 
completely  Britain,  or  of  any  other  land.  T)e  Tocque- 
unfettered.  ^-^n^  dcclarcd  that  in  Great  Britain  the 
constitution  can  change  without  cessation,  or  rather 
it  does  not  exist.  Tlie  English  law-makers  are  com- 
pletely unfettered.     English  writers,  such  as  Black- 


COXSTITUTIOX  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.     233 

stone,  and  his  ablest  commentator  Christian,  ^  make 
similar  statements.  In  a  former  time,  indeed,  one 
may  find  in  law-writers  the  idea  that  there  are 
fundamental  principles  superior  to  Kings  and  Par- 
liaments ;  but  the  modern  doctrine  is  that  of  the  ab- 
solute supremacy  of  Parliament.  Jeremy  Bentham 
proclaimed  that  nothing  was  superior  to  legislation, 
and  that  is  the  theory  of  to-day.  The  "Written," 
or  as  Mr.  Bryce  calls  it,  the  "  Rigid,"  Constitution, 
as  part  of  the  polity  of  a  people,  appears  for  the  first 
time  in  America.  It  is  the  most  distinctive  feature 
of  our  system,  and,  moreover,  that  probably  wliich 
has  the  most  value. 

"We  have  not  yet,"  says  Dr.  W.  G.  Hammond, 
"  fully  ■  learned  the  vast  importance  and  momentous 
consequences  of  the  new  element  that  has 

,  .  „  Importance  of 

been  introduced  into  the  science  oi  govern-  the  written 

Constitution. 

ment  by  .  .  .  the  recognition  oi  two  dis- 
tinct and  unequal  grades  of  law  (even  though  both 
derive  their  authority  from  the  same  supreme  power, 
the  people),  one  of  which  always  controls  and  limits 
the  other,  and  cannot  be  changed  or  limited  by  it  or 
by  any  other  of  the  ordinary  processes  of  legislation ; 
and  consequent  upon  this  the  securing  of  the  funda- 
mental maxims  of  the  government  and  its  main  feat- 
ures, against  attacks  of  the  persons  in  authority, 
while  they  are  yet  endowed  with  the  powers  neces- 
sary for  the  conduct  of  affairs."  ^  The  Fathers  put 
as  many  obstacles  as  they  could  contrive,  as  Lowell 
phrases  it,  "  not  in  the  way  of  the  people's  will,  but 
of  their  whim  "  ;  above  all  is  the  Rigid  Constitution, 
a  bridle  upon  popular  whim.      By  this  the  people 

1  Commentaries,  I,  p.  91.       2  "Western  Jurist,  April,  1869,  p.  65,  etc. 


234  ANGLO-SAXON   FKEEDOM. 

have  shorn  themselves  of  a  measure  of  their  power, 
making  themselves  safe  from  themselves,  and  thus  is 
imparted  to  the  government  the  highest  practicable 
and  desirable  stability. 

Although  in  its  developed  form  the  idea  of  a  Rigid 
Constitution  does  not  appear  until  the  establishment 
History  of  the  ^f  America,  the  beginnings  of  the  notion 
^'^^'^'  must  be  sought  for  earlier.      A  germ  of 

the  idea  may  possibly  be  found  in  Magna  Charta  ; 
still  another,  in  the  charters  by  which  the  guilds  of 
the  Middle  Ages  were  constituted.^  Each  corpora- 
tion found  its  grant  of  privileges  accompanied  by  a 
code  of  obligations,  to  which  it  was  forced  to  conform 
under  penalty  of  losing  those  privileges.  The  Eng- 
lish settlement  of  America  Avas  made  by  great  trading 
corporations,  the  charters  of  which,  originally  nothing 
more  than  grants  to  mercantile  companies,  made  in 
true  mediaeval  fashion,  when  "perverted"  into  in- 
struments of  government,  stood  behind  the  colonial 
assemblies,  like  the  constitutions  behind  the  legisla- 
tures. State  and  Federal,  of  the  American  Union. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  idea  of  an  American  Consti- 
tution that  it  shall  come  from  the  people  themselves, 
f,  ^„  ♦  „        who  are  to  be  bound  by  it.     In  the  case  of 

It  must  come  •> 

pie'thlm- ^''°"  ^^^^  charters  mentioned,  some  outside  au- 
seives.  thority.  King,  or  over-lord  of  lower  rank, 

imposes  the  limitation.  Whence  comes  this  noble 
element  of  self-restriction  ?  In  the  Social  Compact  on 
board  the  "Mayflower";  the  agreement  of  the  llhodc 
Island  settlers  in  16S7  ;  and  of  the  Connecticut  towns, 
Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor,  a  year  or  two 
later,  the  freemen  bind  themselves.     In  the  time  of 

1  Brooks  Adams  :  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1884. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.     285 

the  English  Commonwealth,  Vane  in  the  "  Healing 
Question,"  in  1656,  clearly  outlines  what  has  become 
the  American  form  of  a  constitutional  convention, 
and  urges  Cromwell  to  call  one  for  the  settlement  of 
the  "  fundamentals,"  instead  of  pursuing  an  arbitrary 
course.  Cromwell  took  no  notice  of  Vane's  sugges- 
tion ;  though  the  idea  was  in  the  minds  of  men,  no 
great  people  undertook  to  put  it  in  practice  until  after 
another  century  liad  passed.  When  at  the  throw- 
ing off  of  the  royal  dominion,  the  charters  under 
which  the  Thirteen  Colonies  had  existed  lost  author- 
ity, the  people  in  the  several  States  made  provision 
for  the  new  order  of  things,  continuing  generally  the 
old  charters  witli  little  change,  as  the  most  convenient 
scheme  that  could  be  devised.  When,  therefore,  in 
1787,  the  fathers  gathered  in  convention  at  Philadel- 
phia for  their  memorable  Avork,  sent  by  the  will  of  the 
people,  the  proceeding  was  not  without  precedent, 
though  the  scale  on  which  the  experiment  was  to  be 
made  was  larger  than  ever  before. 

Though  the  idea  of  formulating  for  a  new  State 
a  Rigid  Constitution  by  means  of  a  convention  of 
popular    delegates    was    somethinfy  novel, 

^    ^  o  .  .  Careful  reten- 

there    was,    as    regards    the    Constitution  uonofEng- 

"  lish  forms  by 

itself,^  when  it  at  last  appeared,  singularly  CMivention  of 
little  that  was  original.  "  The  Fathers," 
says  Bryce,^  "  had  neither  the  rasljness  nor  the 
capacity  necessary  for  constructing  a  constitution  a 
priori :  there  is  wonderfully  little  genuine  inventive- 
ness in  the  world,  least  of  all  in  the  field  of  political 
institutions.     They  followed  methods  which  experi- 

1  A  summary  of  the  Federal  Constitution  is  given  in  Appendix  D. 

2  American  Commonwealtli,  Vol.  I,  p.  31,  American  ed. 


236  AXGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

ence  had  tested,  —  their  own  colonial  governments, 
of  late  transformed  into  State  governments."  These 
had  a  general  resemblance  to  the  British  constitution, 
and  in  so  far,  it  may  with  truth  be  said  that  the 
British  constitution  became  the  model  for  the  new 
national  government.  The  claim  made  by  Sir  Henry 
Maine  ^  is  not  at  all  extravagant,  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  is  colored  throughout  by  ideas 
of  British  origin ;  is,  in  fact,  a  version  of  the  British 
constitution  as  it  must  have  presented  itself  to  an 
Contrast  be-  obscrvcr  iu  the  second  half  of  the  last  cen- 
tudon-ma"kers  ^^^^J'  ^  most  significant  contrast  is  to  be 
Lnd^Xe-"'^  noticed  between  the  work  of  the  constitu- 
where.  tiou-makcrs  of  the  incipient  United  States, 

and  that  of  the  constitution-makers  of  other  countries, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  which  within  a  hundred 
years  have  undertaken  a  reconstruction  of  their  re- 
spective governments.  In  the  case  of  the  latter,  the 
re-shaping  has  generally  been  done  in  a  temper  of 
bitter  dissatisfaction  with  the  old  institutions,  and 
with  an  earnest  determination  to  build  anew  from  the 
foundation,  cutting  loose  completely  from  the  past. 
So  it  has  been  in  Mexico  and  the  South  American 
Republics,  founded  upon  the  ancient  dependencies  of 
Spain ;  so  it  has  been  in  the  case  of  Sjiain  herself ;  so, 
to  a  most  marked  degree,  it  has  been  in  the  case  of 
France.  In  tly3  United  States,  however,  the  people  at 
the  outset  were  more  than  satisfied  with  the  bulk  of 
their  institutions,  and  adopted  tliem  without  change, 
for  the  new  order.  "  All  sorts  of  old  Enoflish  institu- 
tions,"  says  Bryce,  "  have  beeii  transferred  bodily,  and 
sometimes  look  as  odd  in  the  midst  of  their  new  sur- 

1  Popular  Government,  Essay  IV,  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


CONSTITUTIOX  OF   THE   UXITED  STATES.     237 

roundings  as  the  quaint  gables  of  a  seventeenth  cen- 
tury house  among  the  terraces  of  a  growing  London 
suburb."  ^ 

As  to  local  divisions  and  administration,  everything 
went  forward  in  the  different  parts  of  the  country 
without  break.     The  towns  of  Xew  Eng- 

,         ,  T  1      1         ■  J        J  ,  •  Local  forms 

land,  governed  each  by  its  town-meetmg,   quite  un- 

.  ,  „  chaDged. 

a  resuscitation,  as  we  have  seen,  ot  a  very 
ancient  order,  persisted  in  full  vigor.  In  the  South, 
the  parishes,  each  governed  by  its  vestry,  and  pos- 
sessing a  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
all  carefully  modelled  after  the  English  parish  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  were  continued  without  inter- 
ruption.—  As  to  county  government,  its  centre  con- 
tinued to  be  the  County  Court.  Justices,  sheriff, 
constable,  coroner,  —  the  functionaries,  continued  un- 
der the  old  names :  the  forms  of  procedure  underwent 
no  alteration ;  the  traditions  persisted,  even  to  the  old 
French  "  Oyez,  03-ez  I "  with  which  the  crier  called 
the  court  to  order.  As  to  the  retention  of  this 
scheme  of  local  government,  the  decision,  of  course, 
rested  with  the  States,  each  choosing  for  itself.  ,  Each, 
without  exception,  clung  to  the  English  heirlooms, 
attempting  no  innovation.  Louisiana,  entering  the 
Union  at  a  later  day,  preferred  to  retain  the  French 
organization  to  which  she  was  accustomed ;  but  with 
the  single  exception  of  Louisiana,  every  one  of  the 
forty-four  States  now  contained  within  the  L'nited 
States,  —  the  original  Thirteen  as  well  as  the  Dako- 
tas,  Washington,  Montana,  Idaho,  and  Wyoming, 
the  communities  added  but  now,  —  are  in  their 
polities  from  top  to  bottom  English,  each  inheriting 

1  Americau  Commonwealth,  I,  p.  iSO. 


238  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  priceless  treasure  of  the  English  common  law, 
each  in  all  the  details  of  administration  inheriting 
English  forms,  traditions,  and  nomenclature. 

As  regards  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  following 
of  English  precedents  is  just  as  apparent  as  in  the 
case  of  the  forms  of  local  self-government.  When 
the  Federal  Constitution  was  formulated  and  sent 
out  to  the  States  to  be  ratified,  the  exasperation 
against  England  was  extreme,  and  the  friends  of  the 
measure  in  recommending  it  were  as  reticent  as  pos- 
sible as  to  their  obligation  to  the  mother-country. 
The  papers  of  the  "Federalist,"  for  instance,  are 
marked  by  this  reticence.  With  only  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, however,  the  features  of  the  federal  scheme 
are  distinctly  Eng-lish.^     The  resemblance 

The  President        ^     ,        ,^         .,  i        t^    •    •    i     t--  c     i 

the  English      01  thc  r  rcsidcut  to  the  British  King'  oi  the 

King  of  the  i        r      ^  •    -i  •         i      • 

eighteenth        eiid  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  obvious. 

century.  "  "^ 

Each  possesses  the  executive  power,  com- 
mands the  army  and  navy,  makes  treaties,  appoints 
ambassadors  and  judges,  —  all  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Upper  House  of  the  legislature  ;  each 
has  a. qualified  veto  on  legislation,  and  the  power 
of  convening  the  legislature  in  extra  session.  It 
is  probable  that  the  constitution-makers  constructed 
their  chief  magistrate  simply  by  reviewing  the  pow- 
ers of  the  King  and  modif^dng  them  where  they 
appeared  excessive  or  unsuitable.  At  an  earlier  and 
at  a  later  time,  the  British  Sovereign  was  some- 
thing very  different;  but  the  only  essential  distinc- 
tions between  the  powers  of  the  Pi'esidency  and  of 
the  Kingship,  as  it  was  under  George  III,  are  that 
the   Presidency  is  not  hereditary,  and  can  be  held 

1  Sir  Henry  Maine :  Popular  Goverumeut,  p.  211,  etc. 


CONSTITUTION  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.     239 

(without  re-election)  for  only  a  short  term.  At 
present,  the  President  has  much  more  power  than 
the  English  Sovereign ;  much  more,  too,  than  was 
possessed  by  the  first  Hanoverians;  much  less  than 
was  possessed  by  the  Tudors ;  than  was  claimed, 
though  unsuccessfully,  by  the  Stuarts.  As  to  the 
method  of  electing  the  President,  we  have  the  most 
important  departure  from  English  precedents  which 
the  Federal  Constitution-makers  allowed  themselves. 
In  the  old  dav  when  Angflo-Saxon  freedom 

-  /  .        -      ,    *^^.  ,  The  Electoral 

remained  unimpaired,  the  King  was  elected  couege  bor. 

i'i  r    ^^  t     ""O^'^d  from 

by  the  people  in  the  e^reat  folk-moot,  and  the  Hoiy  ro- 

^"^  ^       ^  ^  °       ^  ,  man  Empire. 

in  a  later  time  by  the  witan,  in  the  pres- 
ence and  with  the  consent  of  the  people,  whose 
acclamations,  as  we  have  seen,  were  craved  at  coro- 
nations, during  many  centuries,  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  ceremony :  in  America,  however,  a  selected 
body  was  provided  for,  the  Electoral  College,  which, 
though  itself  proceeding  from  the  people,  was  to  take 
the  election  out  of  the  hands  of  the  people,  that  the 
choice  might  be  made  by  a  small  circle  especially 
enlightened.  This  feature  of  the  Constitution  was 
borrowed  from  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  in  which  a 
small  bod}'  of  Kurfiirsten  met  to  determine  upon  the 
supreme  magistrate.  The  Electoral  College  is  the 
most  conspicuous  failure  of  the  Constitution.  The 
precedent  upon  which  it  was  based  was  also  a  failure. 
Both  in  Germany  and  America,  the  failure  proceeded 
from  the  same  cause :  the  electors  fell,  in  Germany, 
under  the  control  of  the  dominant  factions  of  the 
French  or  Austrian  party,  —  as  in  America,  they  fall 
under  the  control  of  the  Republican  or  Democratic 
party. 


240  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

As    to    tlie    legislature,    the     bi-cameral    feature, 

the  two   Houses,  bears  the  plain  mark  of  a  British 

original.     In  old  France,  there  were  three 

The  House  of  f.  .        ^i       • 

Commona        bodics ;    SO   lu   DDani.     In  oweden,  there 

suggests  the 

House  of  Rep-  were  four  estates.     The  House  of  Repre- 

resentatives.  ■*■ 

sentatives  is  unquestionably  a  reproduction 
of  the  British  House  of  Commons  of  one  hundi-ed 
years  ago,  though  the  two  bodies  exhibit  at  present 
in  some  points  a  wide  divergence.  Each  is  consti- 
tuted of  members  elected  by  a  popular  franchise  ; 
each  has  the  power  of  originating  all  money-bills  ;  a 
century  ago,  the  House  of  Commons,  like  the  House 
of  Representatives,  was  restricted  to  legislative  func- 
tions, and  had  no  voice  in  the  appointment  of  the 
Cabinet.  The  present  far-i-eaching  and  constant 
interference  with  the  executive  through  the  interro- 
gation of  ministers,  is  a  recent  acquisition  of  power ; 
while  the  right  of  the  Commons  to  designate  Cabinet 
ministers,  at  present  thoroughly  established,  was  suc- 
Anaiogvbe-  ccssfully  disputed  by  George  III.  The 
of  Lo°rdI°a"nd  ^.^alogy  betwecu  the  Upper  Houses  of  the 
Senate.  EugHsh    and    American     Legislatures    is 

much  less  marked  than  in  the  case  of  the  Lower 
Houses.  The  complete  absence  in  America  of  a 
class  of  nobles,  compelled  the  Constitution-makers  to 
look  elsewhere  for  the  means  of  forming  an  Upper 
Chamber.  Following  at  last  the  suggestion  of  Con- 
necticut, they  hit  upon  the  happy  expedient  of  mak- 
ing the  Upper  House  "■  reflect  the  original  political 
equality  of  the  several  states."  ^  Without  regard 
to  amount  of  territory,  wealtli,  or  population,  it  was 
ordained  that  each  State  should  send  two  members  to 

1  Maine  :  Popular  Goverumeiit,  p.  229. 


COXSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.     241 

the  Senate.  The  adoption  of  this  provision  in  1787, 
not  only  made  possible  the  acceptance  of  the  Consti- 
tution, but  has  proved  since  one  of  the  best  strokes 
in  the  memorable  work  that  was  then  done.  While 
in  a  general  way  acting  like  the  House  of  Lords,  to 
restrain  and  supplement  the  work  of  the  Lower  House, 
the  Senate  has  executive  functions,  also,  which,  as 
time  has  passed,  have  developed  into  greater  im- 
portance. From  the  outset  it  has  possessed  such  a 
dignity  of  character,  and  its  action  has  been  attended 
in  every  stage  of  our  history  with  consequences  so 
salutary,  that  it  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  fortunate  creations  of  the  Fathers. 

The  Supreme  Court,  finally,  which  in  the  Federal 
Constitution  represents  the  judicial  function,  as  the 
President  represents  the  executive,  and 
Congress  the  legislative,  has  been  held  by  foTthe^su! 
De  Tocqueville  and  other  writers  to  be  ^^^°^^ 
a  brilliant  American  invention.  Sir  Henry  Maine 
regards  it  as  something  unique,^  but  finds  in  its 
make-up  and  in  its  forms  of  procedure,  marks  of 
English  originals.  Bryce  goes  still  farther,  claiming 
that  it  is  throughout  based  on  English  precedents. 
The  British  judges,  irremovable  except  by  impeach- 
ment, are  its  model.  It  can  act  only  indirectly,  in 
special  cases  in  which  the  United  States,  States,  and 
individuals  are  parties  ;  a  declaration  of  unconstitu- 
tionality not  provoked  by  a  definite  dispute  is  un- 
known to  the  Supreme  Court.  "  Much  that  is  really 
English  appears  to  De  Tocqueville  to  be  American 
or  democratic.  The  function  of  the  judges,  for 
instance,  in   expounding   the   Constitution  and  dis- 

1  Maine  :  Popular  Government,  p.  217,  etc. 


242  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

regarding  a  statute  wliich  conflicts  therewith,  .  .  . 
is  a  mere  instance  of  a  general  doctrine  of  Eng- 
lish law  adapted  to  states  partially  subordinate  to 
a  federal  government."  ^  No  authority  weighed 
so  much  with  the  Constitution-makers  of  1787  as 
Montesquieu,  as  appears  from  the  frequency  and  the 
Influence  of  revercnce  with  which  the  "Esprit  des 
"TdlB"'"  Lois"  is  cited  in  the  "Federalist."  Special 
^°'*'"  weight  is  given  to    his    assertion  of   the 

essential  separation  in  a  proper  polity,  of  the  legis- 
lative, judicial,  and  executive  powers.  The  distinc- 
tion has  become  now  a  commonplace  of  politics,  but 
it  was  recognized  only  slowly.  The  different  nature 
of  the  legislative  and  executive  functions  was  not 
appreciated  until  the  fourteenth  century ;  and  that 
the  judicial  stood  apart  from  both  was  a  discovery 
of  the  eighteenth.  "  There  is  no  liberty,"  declared 
Montesquieu,  "  if  the  judicial  power  be  not  separated 
from  the  legislative  and  executive " ;  and  in  this 
declaration  we  find  the  source,  no  doubt,  of  the 
Federal  judicature  in  the  Federal  Constitution.^ 
Neither  the  Supreme  Court,  nor  in  fact  the  Federal 
Constitution  in  general,  would  have  been  likely  to 
come  about  had  not  the  "  Esprit  des  Lois  "  been 
written.  But  the  great  French  thinker  was  led  to 
his  views  while  contrasting  admiringly  the  institu- 
tions of  England  with  those  of  his  native  land  ;  ^  and 

1  Bryce:  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  5tli  Series,  IX,  p.  26. 

2  Maine  :  Popular  Government,  p.  220. 

3  In  the  English  constitution,  as  now  developed,  the  legislative,  exec- 
utive, and  judicial  functions  are  by  no  means  separated  as  Montesquieu 
conceived  they  were  in  his  day.  "  The  efficient  secret  of  the  English 
constitution  is  the  close  union,  the  nearly  complete  fusion,  of  the  ex- 
ecutive and  legislative  powers.  The  connecting  link  is  the  Cabinet." 
—  Bagehot:  English  Constitution,  pp.  2  and  10. 


CONSTITUTION  OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.    243 

in  adopting  his  thought,  the  founders  of  America  had 
ready  to  their  hands  English  constructions  which 
needed  only  to  be  transferred. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  then,  is 
by  no  means  a  new  political  departure,  but  merely  a 
modified  version  of  what  stood  in  England  between 
1760  and  1787.  Circumstances  excluded  an  heredi- 
tary King  and  nobility,  and  the  variations  to  be  noted 
are  chiefly  due  to  this  exclusion.  As  in  the  local  gov- 
ernment of  town,  parish,  county,  and  State,  almost  no 
change  is  made,  the  citizen  administering  forms  into 
which  he  was  born  and  for  the  working  of  which  he 
has  an  hereditary  aptitude  handed  down  through 
many  centuries ;  so  as  regards  the  Federal  instru- 
ment, nearly  all  is  old.  The  stability  of  America  is, 
no  doubt,  owing  to  the  great  portion  of  England 
which  is  thus  embedded  in  it,  though  the  sagacity 
must  be  admired  with  which  the  founders  filled  up 
the  interstices  left  by  the  inapplicability  of  certain  of 
the  then  existing  English  institutions,  to  the  eman- 
cipated colonies.^  What  was  excluded,  in  fact,  was 
that  in  the  English  polity  which  made  against  the 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  the  absolutism  and  privilege 
which  had  come  to  pass  in  later  times  because  the 
powerful  were  determined  to  encroach,  and  the  people 
were  negligent  in  maintaining  their  birthright.  When 
all  was  done,  and  the  great  growing  nation  had  had 
time  to  accommodate  itself  to  its  political  garment,  it 
was  found  that  it  was  government  of,  by,  and  for  the 
people  which  had  been  provided  for.  Though  noth- 
ing important,  either  in  State  or  Federal  Constitution 

1  Maine  :  Poi>ular  Government,  p.  253. 


244  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

was  new  or  iin-EnglLsli,  something  important  liad  been 
slonglied  off.  Mt)reover,  it  is  an  innovation  that  there 
must  be  for  State  and  for  Union,  the  Constitution, 
the  rigid,  carefully  formulated  instrument  by  which 
legislature,  executive,  and  judiciary  are  to  be  care- 
fully bound ;  not  to  be  amended  but  by  a  process  of 
some  difficulty,  —  in  the  case  of  the  Federal  instru- 
ment so  difficult  as  to  be  seldom  practicable.  It  has 
acted  for  America,  says  Sir  HeiUT  Maine, 

Sir  Henry  'J  J  ' 

Maine's  admi-  "  like  tlic  dilvcs  and  clams  which  strike  the 

ration  of  tlie 

Federal  Con-     evc  of  the  traveller  along-  the  Rhine,  con- 

Btitution.  "^        ^  ... 

trolling  the  course  of  a  river  which  begins 
amid  mountain  torrents,  turning  it  into  one  of  the 
most  equable  waterways  in  the  world."  ^  It  was  this 
restored  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  so  similar  to  that  of 
the  plains  of  the  Weser  and  Elbe  two  thousand  years 
ago,  in  all  its  main  outlines,  however  its  adaptation  to 
a  higher  civilization  and  a  vastly  larger  nation  may 
have  caused  development,  —  sovereignty  of  the  plain 
people,  safeguarded  and  carefully  ordered  as  long 
experience  advised,  —  which  one  hundred  years  ago, 
April  30,  1789,  Washington,  as  Chief  Magistrate, 
made  oath  to  administer. 

1  Popular  Governmeut,  p.  245. 


THE   NEW    COLONIAL   EMPIRE.  245 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE,  AND  THE  REFORM  BILL 
OF   1832. 

George  IV,  1820.  William  IV,  1830.  Victoria,  1837. 

With  the  loss  of  the  thirteen  American  colonies, 
the  greatness  of  England  seemed  qnite  destroyed. 
Fur-seeing  statesmen  of  her  rival,  France,  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^._ 
liad  songht  comfort  at  tlie  time  when  Que-  Ef "r^  rnin°«!" 
bee  fell  before  Wolfe,  in  the  anticipation  [{leAmerlLn 
that  the  colonies,  freed  now  from  fear  of  i^*^^°i"''"°- 
a  hostile  power  always  ready  to  descend  upon  them 
from  Canada,  no  longer  needing  protection,  would 
soon  throw  off  the  dependence  by  which  protection 
had  been  accompanied.  The  anticipation  was  well 
based :  the  spirit  of  independence  at  once  appeared, 
as  Choiseul,  Argenson,  Kalm,  and  other  foreign  observ- 
ers had  believed  it  would.  France  fanned  the  dis- 
content; when  the  disputants  came  to  blows,  she 
gladly  lent  America  money  and  men ;  when  at  York- 
town  the  British  army  surrendered  and  Ameiican 
independence  became  certain,  France  thought  her 
revenge  complete,  and  saw  nothing  in  the  future  but 
her  own  undisputed  supremacy  in  the  civilized  world. 

The  ill-wishers  of  England  saw  far,  but  not  far 
enough.  The  independence  of  America  crippled  the 
island  kingdom  for  a  moment  only :  at  the   How  they 

.  T  T    1       1      1  •        were  frus- 

same  time  it  established  the  supremacy  in  trated. 


246  ANGLO-SAXOX   FKEEDOM. 

tlie  world  of  the  English  tongue,  of  English  free- 
dom, of  English  ideas  in  general,  —  a  supremacy 
before  which  France  was  destined  to  sink  irrecover- 
ably. Since  the  establishment  of  the  United  States, 
the  life  of  the  English-speaking  race  has  had  two 
currents  instead  of  one :  the  older  has  not  lessened, 
while  the  newer  current  has  flowed  with  a  force 
which  has  changed  the  face  of  the  world.^  With  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  America  began 
her  separate  course.  Within  thirty  years  England 
had  acquired  a  new  colonial  empire  vaster  even  than 
the  one  she  had  possessed  at  first.  Taught  by  expe- 
rience, she  has  managed  these  newer  dependencies 
with  wisdom :  the  connection  which  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  rejected,  the  new  empire  has  carefully  and 
affectionately  cherished. 

Not  all  of  America  became  independent  with  the 
United  States.  Canada,  lately  conquered,  containing 
Why  Canada  ^  population  of  sixty  thousand  French, 
uieUnked"  remained  to  England.  Between  Canada 
States.  ^^^  ^-j-^g  Thirteen  Colonies  had  existed  a 

fierce  hereditary  feud.  In  religion,  as  Catholics  and 
Protestants,  they  were  utterly  antagonistic ;  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  yeare,  since  the  occupation  of 
America  by  French  and  English,  in  fact,  the  wars 
between  them  had  been  almost  continuous.  The 
Canadians  might  hate  England,  but  tliey  hated  her 
late  dependencies  still  more.  During  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  American  invasions  of  Canada  met  with 
no  support  from  the  habitans ;  and  since  the  Jiritish 
fleet  could  easily  pour  troops  into  the  country  and 
command    from   the   St.   Lawrence   all  the   most  im- 

1  J.  R.  Greeu  :  History  of  the  English  People,  IV,  p.  270. 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE.  247 

portant  points,  such  invasions  were  easily  frustrated. 
At  once  after  the  close  of  the  war,  we  have  seen  a 
cause  become  operative  which  greatly  increased 
Canadian  dislike.  The  expatriated  Tories,  to  the 
number  of  many  thousands,  sought  homes  in  Canada. 
The  ideas  they  rejected  had  triumphed;  through 
wholesale  confiscation  they  had  been  stripped  of  all 
they  possessed ;  the  spots  they  loved  had  been  barred 
to  them.  Deep  resentment  on  their  part  was  inevit- 
able, —  resentment  which  their  descendants  have  not 
ceased  to  feel  down  to  the  present  hour. 

At  the  very  time  when  the  over-severe  grasp  of  the 
mother-country  upon  America  was  being  beaten  off, 
the  greatest  of  English  sailore  was  lifting  voyages  of 
the  curtain  in  the  South  Pacific  behind  captain  cook. 
which  lay  concealed  an  immense  new  world.  James 
Cook,  in  the  "Endeavour,"  and  the  "Resolution," 
entering  seas  which,  indeed,  had  been  penetrated  be- 
fore by  Portuguese,  Spanish,  and  Dutch,  but  of  which 
almost  nothing  was  known,  brought  to  the  attention 
of  civilized  men  the  existence  of  vast  habitable  lands. 
He  mapped  out  accurately  the  two  contiguous  islands 
of  New  Zealand,  nearly  as  large  as  Italy,  possessed  of 
a  climate  most  favorable  to  Anglo-Saxon  men,  and  of 
the  richest  natural  resources  of  every  kind.  Coast- 
ing at  great  peril  through  the  intricate  barrier-reefs, 
along  the  far-extending  shore,  from  Van  Diemen's 
Land  to  the  northern  cape  of  what  is  now  Queens- 
land, he  traced  the  position  and  shape  of  a  new  con- 
tinent, a  land  of  the  finest  promise.  How  memorable 
the  change  these  regions  were  to  experience  during 
the  hundred  years  that  followed  I  Scarcely  was  the 
work  of  Cook  accomplished  when  the  Cape  of  Good 


248  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

Hope  fell  to  England  out  of  the  weakening  grasp  of 
the  Dutch.  Her  empire  of  India,  which  the  French 
had  disputed,  was  a  matter  of  no  doubt  after  the  ruin 
of  Dupleix.  Rodney's  defeat  of  De  Grasse  gave  her 
at  the  same  time  the  West  Indies.  Points  of  foot- 
hold in  long  series  were  made  firm  in  the  sea, — 
Gibraltar,  Malta,  Aden,  Singapore,  Hong  Kong,  Van- 
couver, Bermuda,  Ascension,  the  Falkland  Isles,  — 
stepping-stones  over  which  England  might  proceed 
with  speed  and  unobstructed,  to  succor  or  comfort 
her  vast  outlying  dominions.  It  was  not  until  the 
loss  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  which  seemed  at  the 
time  so  immense,  so  decisive  of  her  decline,  that,  in 
the  period  of  Webster,  she  became  "  that  power 
whose  morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun  and 
keeping  company  Avith  the  hours,  fills  the  whole  earth 
with  one  continuous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the 
martial  airs  of  England." 

Studying  the  extraordinary  expansion  of  the  influ- 
ence of  England  with  reference  to  the  spread  in  the 
Distinctions  world  of  Auglo-Saxou  frccdom,  we  must, 
lnion™t^he  it  Is  plain,  make  a  distinction  among  the 
pendTndes  of  territories  which  form  her  great  outlying 
Eaftand'wi'st  cmpirc.  lu  India,  for  instance,  she  appears 
simply  as  a  ruler.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  own  her  sway,  which  is  exercised  by  only  a 
few  thousand  Englishmen,  the  civil  ofticials  and  the 
regiments  which  form  the  nucleus  of  the  army.  The 
vast  mass  of  the  population  live  on,  little  touched  by 
the  ideas  of  the  masters,  —  preserving  their  own  relig- 
ious ideas  for  the  most  part,  preserving  the  ancient 
structure  of  society  based  upon  caste ;  preserving 
in  the  whole  internal  administration  of  affairs,  the 


THE   NEW   COLOXIAL   EMPIRE.  249 

political  forms  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed. 
However  much  European  civilization  may  have 
reached  a  few  individuals  among  classes  fortunately 
placed,  the  multitude  know  it  not ;  as  to  the  foreign 
lordship,  they  are  only  aware  that  they  can  follow 
their  ancient  ways  with  a  peace  which  was  utterly 
strange  to  the  land  Avhile  under  Asiatic  rule.  Again, 
as  to  the  West  Indies,  the  Anglo-Saxon  population, 
never  large,  steadily  diminishes ;  while  a  multitude 
of  blacks,  descendants  of  the  slaves  brought  from 
Africa,  a  race  yielding  only  slowly,  and  under  very 
favorable  conditions,  to  the  higher  social  forms, 
spreads  constantly  wider,  threatening  the  islands 
with  a  reign  of  barbarism. 

In  quite  a  different  class  from  the  East  and  West 
Indies  must  be  placed  Canada,  South  Africa,  New 
Zealand,  and  Australia.      Each  of   these 

-       .  „  .      Canada,  South 

names  stands  lor  a  group  oi  gfreat  tern-  Africa,  aus- 

tralasia. 

tories  in  all  of  which  the  native  races  are 
disappearing  more  or  less  rapidly ;  in  all  of  which  a 
large  Anglo-Saxon  population  is  firmly  rooted,  with 
all  the  appliances  of  the  highest  European  civiliza- 
tion ;  in  none  of  which  has  there  prevailed  the  curse 
of  an  importation  of  an  enslaved  barbaric  race.  To 
what  an  extent  these  new  lands  have  adopted  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  and  how  vast  their  influence  has  been 
and  is  likely  to  be  with  reference  to  it,  will  be  best 
understood  if  we  look  first  at  a  closely  related  change 
in  the  motherland,  —  a  change  which  followed  and  to 
a  large  extent  depended  upon  the  loss  of  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies,  —  the  enfraneliisement  of  the  plain 
people,  namely:  for  this  was  the  deep  fundamental 
cause  of  benefits  incalculable. 


250  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

Even  before  the  close  of  the  American  war,  clear 
symptoms  were  not  wanting  of  a  great  change  in  the 
Pitt's  a  ita-  condition  of  England.  In  1782,  Pitt  moved 
nTentarJ'*'^''"  in  the  Housc  of  Commons  for  an  inquiry 
reform.  -j-^^q  parliamentary  representation,  looking 

toward  a  radical  reform  of  its  abuses ;  and  in  this  he 
was  supported  by  members  of  great  eminence,  by 
some,  indeed,  who  usually  stood  in  opposition  to  him, 
like  Charles  James  Fox.  Pitt's  proposition  came 
very  near  prevailing;  a  majority  of  only  twenty 
rejected  it.  Pitt  brought  forward  his  scheme  again 
in  the  following  year,  when  its  popularity  seemed  not 
diminished.  While  Parliament  was  on  the  point  of 
taking  a  momentous  step,  the  aroused  nation,  pressing 
vigorously  for  a  more  satisfactory  representation,  was 
in  a  ferment.  Especially  noticeable  was  the  action 
of  a  OTcat  society,  known  as  the  Friends 

The  Friends  r     ^        -n>  -,  •    •  r      ^ 

ofthePeo-  01  the  Pcoplc,  arising  out  oi  the  society 
of  the  Supporters  of  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
which  had  become  famous  in  the  time  of  Wilkes. 
The  Friends  of  the  People  stimulated  in  various  ways 
the  desire  for  a  better  political  condition,  working 
with  especial  effect  by  means  of  the  distribution  of 
facts  and  figures  which  gave  startling  illustration 
of  existing  abuses. 

But  while  all  signs  promised  an  immediate  reform, 
the  attention  of  England  was  suddenly  diverted  else- 
where ;  the  disposition  to  change  underwent  a  sud- 
den cooling;  the  transformation  of  England  into  a 
freer  and  better  ordered  state  was  postponed  for  an 
entire  generation.  What  arrested  the  operation  of 
causes  that  had  shown  such  activity  was  the  French 
Kevolution..     In  its  earlier  stages,  it  had  been  by  no 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE.  251 

means  without  sjnnpathy  in  other  lands  than  France  ; 

the  leaven  spread  abroad  by  Rousseau  and 

his  followers  had  been  working^,  indeed,   pathy  with  the 

"  French  Revo- 

throuffhout    the    civilized    world.      Even   lutionmits 

^  earlier  stages. 

Russia  had  been  touched  by  the  influence, 
where  Catherine  II  meditated  certain  ameliorations 
of  the  condition  of  her  subjects,  to  some  extent  in 
accord  with  the  humane  striving  of  Joseph  II  in 
Germany,  with  that  of  Pombal  in  Portugal,  even 
with  the  effort  of  the  founders  of  America,  who  in  a 
spirit  not  altogether  democratic,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, had  laid  the  basis  of  a  great  state  across  the 
sea.  England  was  by  no  means  cold  to  the  new  ideas : 
her  thinkers  to  some  extent  echoed  them;  her  younger 
poets,  Wordsworth,  Southey,  Coleridge,  were  ablaze 
with  the  generous  fire;  the  people  recognized  in  the 
upspringing  freedom  across  the  Channel  something 
akin  to  what  they  desired;  and  the  liberal  leaders 
welcomed  the  spread  of  thoughts  so  likely  to  promote 
the  generous  measures  they  themselves  had  at  heart. 
All,  however,  was  transitory.  The  morning  that 
had  dawned  so  fair  speedily  became  over-  Reaction  on 
cast :  the  excesses  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  Re*ign°orre?-^ 
frightened  into  silence  the  voices  that  had  ''°''" 
been  advocating  liberty.  Prerogative,  privilege,  — 
absolutism  in  the  ruler's  chair,  the  assumptions  of  a 
preferred  class,  —  in  every  land  in  Europe  the  hold 
upon  the  world  of  these  hoary  abuses,  which  just  be- 
fore had  seemed  to  be  so  thoroughly  shaken,  became 
suddenly  confirmed.  The  nations,  become  reaction- 
ary, banded  themselves  against  France,  where  liberty 
had  passed  into  license ;  and  in  the  forefront  of  the 
Allies,  with  Burke  lamenting  eloquently  the  fall  of 


252  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  dynasty  of  Hugh  Capet,  and  thundering  fiercely 
against  the  democracy  that  had  destroyed  it,  —  with 
Pitt  suppressing  his  popular  sympathies,  and  rousing 
into  life  and  ranging  for  battle  all  the  ancient  aristo- 
cratic forces,  —  appeared  no  other  than  England.  For 
a  time  the  voices  that  spoke  for  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple were  quite  silenced.  Dukes  and  viscounts  led 
armies  and  fleets ;  Parliament,  made  up  of  a  reinvig- 
orated  House  of  Lords,  and  of  a  House  of  Commons 
sent  by  rotten  boroughs  and  by  shires  bought  up  by 
moneyed  and  titled  magnates,  sanctioned  and  sup- 
ported. The  mass  of  men  meanwhile,  reaping  much 
gain  from  crops  and  manufactures  because  embargoes 
shut  out  foreign  competition  and  the  Avaste  of  war- 
fare caused  an  unnatural  demand,  shuddered  at  what 
they  heard  of  the  work  of  the  guillotine,  paid  their 
taxes,  sent  their  sons  into  ranks  and  on  to  decks  which 
the  French  cannon  forever  swept  bare  of  men,  and 
suffered  their  aspirations  after  a  better  order  thor- 
oughly to  cool. 

A    change,    however,    came.       Waterloo    brought 

peace,  and  also  a  time  of   reckoning.     The    morbid 

prosjjcrit}'  of   the   years  of   war  was  fol- 

Cessation  of  ,.  ^.  .^ 

the  reaction  at  lowcd    Dv  dcot  and   dccp  tustrcss.       J  hc 

Waterloo.  xr    i         a  n-  t     /  r>  T^ 

Hoi}"  Alliance  proceeded  to  nx  upon  hu- 
roj)e  a  chain  of  tyranny  quite  intolerable.  In  the 
House  of  Commons  of  1816  the  very  bottom  of  abuse 
was  touched.  Of  the  658  meml)ers  but  171  could  by 
any  stretch  of  construction  be  regarded  as  popular 
representatives;  wliile  tlie  meml)ers  who  were  noth- 
ing more  than  nominees  of  the  government  and  of 
j)rivate  patrons  numbered  487.  The  private  patrons, 
again,  counted  but  267,  of  whom  144  were  members 


THE   NEW   COLONIAL   E:MriKE.  253 

of  the  House  of  Lords. ^  It  was  the  liour  of  special 
darkness  just  before  day.  The  sphit  of  Agiutionfor 
change  was  again  in  the  air,  becoming 
more  pervasive  and  imperative  with  each  year  that 
passed,  until  a  temper  prevailed  which  the  forces  of 
privilege  could  no  longer  resist.  In  March  of  the 
year  1831  came  the  memorable  introduction  by  Lord 
John  Russell  of  the  first  Reform  Bill.^  Heaps  of 
petitions  lay  on  the  table,  the  venerable  hall  of  St. 
Stephen's  was  crowded,  dense  masses  of  people  stood 
outside  waiting  for  the  news,  and  beyond  them  were 
horsemen  ready  to  carry  the  fii'st  information  of  the  de- 
tails of  the  bill  to  every  part  of  England.  The  chief 
evils  demanding  remedy  were :  1.  The  existence  of 
rotten  boroughs,  places  with  few  electors,  sometimes, 
indeed,  with  no  inhabitants  at  all,  which  returned 
members  to  Parliament.  2.  The  fact  that  large 
towns,  which  had  grown  into  importance  through 
commerce,  were  left  without  representation.  3.  The 
unequal  distribution  of  the  francliise  itself,  so  that 
only  a  small  part  of  the  population  had  the  right  of 
voting  in  elections.  The  bill  proposed  that  sixty 
of  the  smaller  boroughs  should  be  disfranchised  alto- 
gether ;  that  forty-seven  should  return  only  one 
member,  instead  of  two;  on  the  other  hand,  London 
was  to  receive  eight  additional  representatives,  and 
thirtj'-four  seats  were  to  be  distributed  among  a 
number  of  towns  heretofore  unrepresented.  The 
English  counties  had  allotted  to  them  fifty-five  new 
members  ;    the    Scotch,    five ;    the    Irish,   three  ;    the 

1  Hannis  Taylor:    Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution, 
I,  p.  613. 

2  Oscar  Browning:  Modern  England,  in  Epochs  of  History  Series, 
pp.  18,  19. 


254  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

"Welsh,  one.  These  changes  would  reduce  the  House 
of  Commons  from  658  to  596.  Corporations  in  bor- 
oughs lost  the  exclusive  right  of  election,  which  was 
uniformly  extended  to  all  householders  who  paid 
<£10  a  year  rent.  These  changes  gave  votes  to  half 
a  million  citizens  who  were  before  without  them. 
The  body  of  the  people  supported  the  bill,  while  the 
court,  the  Church,  the  army  and  navy,  the  lawyers, 
the  universities,  the  nobility  and  gentry,  were  gener- 
ally against  it.  The  Tories  said  its  passage  would 
be  a  revolution ;  the  Radicals  would  liave  preferred 
something  nearer  universal  suffrage.  The  bill  was 
lost,  and  Parliament  was  dissolved  in  April. 

In  a  few  weeks  a  new  Parliament  was  elected.  In 
the  elections,  in  the  midst  of  great  excitement, 
reformers  were  chosen  generally  throughout  the 
country.  The  second  Reform  Bill,  introduced  by 
Lord  John  Russell  in  July,  was  different  in  no  im- 
portant point  from  the  first ;  it  passed  the  House  of 
Commons  in  September,  by  a  majority  of  106.  Earl 
Grey,  the  head  of  the  ministry,  whose  name  is  most 
honorably  identified  with  the  cause  of  reform,  intro- 
duced it  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  it  was  rejected 
by  a  majority  of  forty-one.  A  revolution  seemed 
imminent.  A  cry  was  raised  for  the  abolition  of  the 
House  of  Lords.  Peers  were  attacked  in  the  streets  ; 
sixty  thousand  men  in  procession  presented  a  petition 
to  the  King,  Riots  prevailed.  The  Church  shared  with 
the  aristocracy  the  hatred  of  the  people.  Parliament, 
after  ])rorogation,  met  ascain  in  December, 

Passage  of  the  .  .  . 

Reform  Bill      aud  tlic  third  Reform  Bill  was  introduced, 

of  1832.  ,  _  ' 

little    changed   from  its   predecessors.     It 
passed  the  Commons,  March,  1832.     The  Lords,  as 


THE   NEW   COLONIAL   EMPIRE.  255 

before,  blocked  the  path,  l^ringing  upon  their  heads  a 
fierce  storm  of  popular  disapproval,  in  the  midst  of 
Avhich  permission  was  given  by  the  King  to  Earl 
Grey  and  Lord  Brougham,  the  heads  of  the  ministry, 
to  create  such  a  number  of  Peers  out  of  men  friendly 
to  the  measure,  as  would  be  necessary  to  pass  the 
bill.  Before  such  danger  the  Lords  recoiled.  The 
bill  passed  in  June,  only  twenty-two  Lords  opposing ; 
William  IV  refused  to  sign  in  person,  and  a  commis- 
sion was  appointed  for  the  purpose.  The  momen- 
tous struggle  was  over ;  it  was  apparent  that  there 
was  no  power  in  the  State  which  could  resist  the 
House  of  Commons  when  it  had  become  once  fixed 
upon  its  course. 

The  reform,  so  great  that  it  ought  rather  to  be 
called  a  revolution,  at  once  justified  itself.  A  spirit 
of  moderation  was  shown  in  the  elections,  q^^^  gg-gg,g 
The  new  Parliament,  really  representative  oftheRetem 
for  the  first  time  since  Cromwell,  was  ^'"' 
guilty  of  no  follies,  but  forthwith  remedied  evils  of 
whose  abatement  there  had  been  under  the  old  order 
no  hope.  In  England  and  Ireland  the  pressure 
exercised  by  the  established  Church  was  greatly 
lightened,  slavery  was  presently  abolished  in  the 
dependencies,  cheap  postage  was  introduced,  a  begin- 
ning made  in  alleviating  the  hardships  of  factory  life, 
and  a  grant  allowed  for  education.  It  soon  became 
apparent  that  a  deep-seated  brutality,  which  long  had 
marked  the  mass  of  the  people,  was  largely  due  to 
the  denial  from  which  they  had  suffered,  of  political 
rights.  The  exercise  of  the  new  privileges  had  a 
most  wholesome  effect  in  educating  those  who  now 
possessed  them  ;  the  pressure  of  public  responsibility 


256  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

evoked  manhood  in  those  who  were  subjected  to  it. 
These  results,  which  no  reasonable  observer  could  fail 
to  remark,  prepared  the  way  for  still  another  instal- 
ment of  popular  liberty.  The  reform  of  1832  had  been 
only  partial.  In  thirty  years  the  demand  became  strong 
for  something  more  ;  as  before,  years  of  agitation,  less 
violent,  however,  than  at  first,  preceded  action.  In 
18G7,  the  franchise  was  put  into  the  hands  of  new  mil- 
lions ;  and  in  1884,  by  the  admission  of  the  agricul- 
tural laborers,  it  was  still  further  extended,  Scotland 
and  Ireland  were  placed  upon  the  same  footing ;  a 
re-arrangement  and  equalization  of  the  constituencies 
took  place  upon  the  most  equitable  principles  ;  and  it 
became  possible  to  describe  England  as  transformed 
^    .    ,  into    "a   republic,   in    which,    under    the 

England  prac-  ■'• 

ticaiiyare-      ancicut    and    still    useful    forms    of    the 

public. 

throne  and  the  regalia,  the  People  is 
King  " ;  ^  a  state  which  has  far  more  in  common  with 
the  ancient  time,  when  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  was 
fully  alive,  than  with  the  intervening  ages  when 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom  was  suppressed.^ 

At  the  present  hour  no  power  in  England  can 
stand  against  the  House  of  Commons,  which  has 
Power  of  the  t)ecome  as  thoroughly  representative  of 
Cabinet.  ^]^g  pcoplc  as  was  cvcr  the  folk-moot  of 

the  tribes  in  distant  antiquity.  Montesquieu  praised 
the  sei:)aration  of  the  legislative,  the  executive,  and 
the  judicial  power,  which  he  thouglit  he  could  see  in 

1  H.  Taylor  :  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution,  I,  p.  166. 
"  The  appendages  of  a  monarchy  have  been  converted  into  the  essence 
of  a  republic.  ...  It  is  only  a  disguised  republic  which  is  suited  to 
such  a  being  as  the  Englishman,  in  such  a  century  as  the  nineteenth." 
Bagehot :  English  Constitution,  pp.  285-291. 

2  Freeman  :  Growth  of  English  Constitution,  p.  158. 


THE   NEW   COLOXIAL   EMPIRE.  257 

the  English  polity  of  liis  time ;  and  the  makers  of 
the  American  Federal  Constitution  felt  that  such  a 
separation  was  essential  to  a  well-ordered  free  state. 
However  this  may  be,  the  distinction  has  disappeared 
in  England,  where  the  executive  has  a  ruling  voice 
in  legislation,  and  where  the  legislature  interferes 
constantly  and  profoundly  with  the  functions  of  the 
executive.  To  understand  this,  the  immensely  im- 
portant functions  of  a  group  of  officials  must  be 
understood  of  whom  the  ancient  constitution  knew 
nothing;  whose  character  and  duties,  it  is  said, 
indeed,  have  never  been  formally  laid  down.  This 
group  is  known  as  the  Cabinet,  a  name  applied  at 
first  by  way  of  reproach.  We  have  seen  it  appear  in 
the  reign  of  William  and  Mary,  at  which  time,  to 
remedy  great  embarrassments,  the  expedient  was  hit 
upon  of  having  the  King  select  his  ministers  from 
the  majority  in  Parliament,  that  they  might  be  always 
in  accord  with  themselves,  and  have  behind  them  a 
power  able  to  carry  through  whatever  schemes  they 
might  have  in  view.  In  the  "  responsible  govern- 
ment" which  has  come  to  pass  out  of  this  provision 
by  a  process  of  evolution  comprising  many  stages, 
the  Sovereign  retains  scarcely  a  shadow  of  real 
might.  The  leader  of  the  parliamentary  majority 
for  the  time  being  becomes  head  of  the  ministry; 
the  other  prominent  men  of  his  party  become  his 
colleagues,  and  to  them  solely  is  committed  the  exe- 
cution of  the  majority's  will.  In  legislation,  it  is 
left  to  them  to  take  the  initiative  ;  while  in  executing 
measures  that  have  been  resolved  upon,  the  minis- 
ters, sitting  in  their  seats,  are  subjected  to  constant 
questioning    and    criticism,  —  a   process   which   the 


258  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

minority,  the  Opposition,  always  take  care  shall  be 
sharp  and  searching  to  the  last  degree.  Whenever 
a  measure  of  the  ministry  fails  of  support  from  a  ma- 
jority in  Parliament,  the  ministry  falls,  the  leadera  of 
the  new  majority  at  once  stepping  into  their  places. 
If  the  discomfited  ministry  choose,  an  appeal  can 
be  made  to  the  country ;  Parliament  is  dissolved,  and 
elections  are  ordered  for  a  new  Parliament.  In  the 
elections,  the  sovereign  people  express  their  will : 
the  ministry  may  be  sustained  when  the  new  body 
assembles,  or  it  may  fail  of  support.  If  it  has  not 
the  majority  on  its  side,  it  must  cease  to  exist. 

Such  in  its  broad  outlines  is  the  shape  into  which 
the  polity  of  England  has  at  last  grown.  In  electing 
Present  state  the  Housc  of  Commous  but  fcw  Eilglish- 
poHty.^"^''*^  men  are  now  shut  out.  The  Sovereign  has 
become  powerless ;  gaining,  however,  immensely  in  the 
love  of  the  people  since  it  has  become  clear  that  she 
is  their  servant  and  not  their  mistress.  The  House 
of  Lords  has  no  power ;  though  nominally  possessed 
of  the  right  to  revise  and  co-operate  in  the  work  of 
government,  its  stubborn  opposition  at  any  time 
could  at  once  be  fi'ustrated  by  the  creation,  on  the 
part  of  the  ministry,  of  new  peers  in  sufficient  num- 
bers to  overcome  the  resistance.  As  at  the  time  of 
the  Iveform  Bill  of  1832,  such  treatment  was  threats 
ened,  and  the  Lords  at  once  succumbed,  so  it  must 
always  be.  The  Cabinet  guides  legislation,  and 
under  constant  fire  from  the  Opposition  pursues 
whatever  policy  it  thinks  fit.  The  Cabinet  reflects 
the  majority  of  Parliament,  just  as  Parliament  itself 
reflects  the  nation.  A  healthful  air  of  publicity 
blows  through  all  proceedings.     Each  syllable  uttered 


THE   NEW   COLONIAL   ExMPIKE.  259 

in  the  national  council,  caught  by  eager  re^^ortei-s,  is 
spread  broadcast  next  day  by  means  of  thousands  of 
newspapers.  Comment  of  every  kind,  applause  and 
fault-finding,  are  as  outspoken  in  every  constituency 
as  witliin  the  Palace  of  Westminster  itself.  Govern- 
ment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people, 
can  proceed  but  little  farther. 

Are  there  grounds  for  fearing  that  the  people  of 
England  are  inadequate  to  such  responsibilities  ? 
Says  Lord  Farnborough  (Sir  T.  E.  May)  :  "  That 
Englishmen  have  been  qualified  for  the  Adequacy  of 
enjoyment  of  political  freedom  is  mainl}^  theirrespon" 
due  to  those  ancient  local  institutions  by  "^'''"®*- 
which  they  have  been  trained  to  self-government. 
The  affairs  of  the  people  have  been  administered  not 
in  Parliament  only,  but  in  the  vestry,  the  town-coun- 
cil, the  board-meeting,  and  the  Court  of  Quarter  Ses- 
sions. England  alone  among  the  nations  of  the  earth 
has  maintained  for  centuries  a  constitutional  polity ; 
and  her  liberties  may  be  ascribed  above  all  things 
to  her  free  local  institutions."  What  misfortunes  the 
shire-moot  and  the  tun-moot  have  undergone  in  their 
transmission  through  the  ag^es  we  have  had  occasion 
to  notice  as  our  survey  has  proceeded.  That  they 
have  been  to  a  large  extent  overlaid  has  been  made 
plain ;  and  it  is  certain  that  in  proportion  as  they  have 
been  thrust  back,  a  baleful  torpor  and  degradation 
have  fallen  upon  the  people.  But  though  overlaid,  the 
old  local  self-government  has  never  been  obliterated. 
"  Since  the  days  of  their  Saxon  ancestors,"  continues 
May,  "England's  sons  have  learned  at  their  own 
gates  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  citizens.  As- 
sociating for  the  common  good,  they  have  become 


260  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

exercised  in  public  affairs.  Tliousaiids  of  small  com- 
munities have  become  separately  trained  to  self-gov- 
ernment, taxing  themselves  through  their  representa- 
tives for  local  objects,  meeting  for  discussion  and 
business,  and  animated  by  local  rivalries  and  ambi- 
tions." 1 

The  testimony  of  the  great  constitutional  historian 
is  amply  borne  out  by  other  authorities,  among  whom 
J.  Toulmin  Smith  may  be  cited.  "  This  system  of 
local  self-government,  by  which  there  were  fixed, 
frequent,  and  accessible  meetings  together  of  the 
folk  or  people,  for  discussing  and  determining  upon 
all  matters  of  common  interest  (that  local  self-gov- 
ernment that  affords  the  most  valuable  education 
both  as  to  thought  and  action,  the  best  school  for  the 
faculties  of  man),  is  a  system  the  skeleton  of  which 
still  exists,  though  it  has  been  much  overlaid.  The 
fact  is  clear  and  unmistakable  that  such  a  system  of 
local  self-government,  minutely  ramified  and  wisely 
devised,  has  never  been  quite  superseded."  ^ 

In  the  better  England  of  to-day  the  signs  are  hope- 
ful for  a  vigorous  revival  of  what  has  so  long  been 
The  County  atrophicd.  By  a  sweeping  measure  of  the 
Counciia.  year  1888,  Parliament,  brushing  aside  a 
mass  of  cumbrous  and  hurtful  mediaeval  lumber,  gave 
the  government  of  the  shires  once  more  into  the 
hands  of  the  people  after  the  old  fashion.  In  the 
new  County  Councils,  freely  elected  representatives 
once  more  care  for  the  business  of  the  shires,  as  did 
long  ago  the  Reeves  and  four  men  sent  by  the  town- 
ships to  the  central  moot,  to  speak  the  will  of  the 

1  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  400. 

2  Local  Self-Government  and  Centralization,  p.  29,  etc. 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  e:mpire.  261 

ceorls.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1848  the  illustrious 
Cobden  anticipated  what  has  now  come  to  pass  in  the 
shires,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  the  head  of  each 
shire  might  be  an  official  somewhat  analogous  to  a 
State  2'overnor  in  the  United  States.  He  felt  that 
a  radical  transformation  of  the  House  of  Lords  was 
impending,  and  had  an  idea  of  an  Upper  House 
resembling  that  of  America,  in  which  each  county 
should  be  represented  by  two  senators.^ 

An  American  naturally  feels  that  such  a  change 
would  be  salutary :  it  is  at  any  rate  quite  in  the  spirit 
of  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  In  municipal- 
ities, too,  an  administrative  system  far  nearer  that 
of  the  old  borough-moot,  so  distinctly  marked  in  the 
time  when  the  cities  were  rising,  than  the  oligarchic 
abuses  that  displaced  it  for  so  long,  has  come  to  pre- 
vail. The  plain  people,  while  pushing  themselves  to 
the  front,  have  certainly  not  been  neglectful  of  the 
means  by  which  they  may  best  fit  themselves  for  the 
responsibilities  which  they  have  assumed. 

In  the  transformation  of  England,  so  marked  since 
1832,  and  by  no  means  as  yet  at  an  end,  the  voices  of 
the  timid  are  constantly  heard  deprecating  innova- 
tions ;  and  as  constantly  the  voices  of  scholars  and 
thinkers  declaring  that  the  so-called  innovations  are 
but  a  reverting  to  ancient  precedents.  In  the  mo- 
mentous debate  and  strife  the  incidents  are  sometimes 
startling.  It  has  been  felt  often  that  no  other  so 
audacious  hand  has  in  our  generation  been  jj^ 
laid  upon  the  very  foundations  of  society  ^heme'of 
and  property  as  that  of    Henry  George ;  '■=f°'''^- 

1  Letter  to  George  Combe,  August  28,  IMS.  Morley:  Life  of  Cobden, 
p.  327. 


262  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

but  to  make  real  Henry  George's  theory  of  land-hold- 
ing, it  is  now  claimed,  it  would  only  be  necessary  to 
revive  that  primitive  system  of  tenure,  in  use  through 
all  the  early  centuries,  and  never  down  to  the  present 
moment  entirely  discontinued,  by  which  the  land  was 
owned  by  the  community,  no  individual  being  in  such 
a  sense  a  proprietor  that  he  could  call  even  his  home- 
stead his  very  own.^ 

In  the  circumstances,  it  is  only  natural  for  patriotic 

Englishmen  to  wish  there  was  something  to  balance 

and  serve   as  a  brake  to  the    car   of   the 

Flexible  and        o  • 

rigid  consti-      State,  as  it  sways  and  plunges  forward  alongf 

tutions.  .  J  r  &  fc> 

these  lines  of  change.  Even  though  prog- 
ress be  but  a  return  to  the  old,  is  the  return  wise 
always?  and  if  wise,  would  it  not  be  expedient  to 
return  at  a  far  slower  rate,  with  more  respectful  treat- 
ment of  mediaeval  traditions,  —  unwisely  adopted  per- 
haps in  their  day,  yet  still  revered  for  centuries,  and 
not  to  be  left  behind  without  much  risk  to  the  social 
and  political  framework?  At  present,  the  House  of 
Commons  is  omnipotent  in  the  State.  As  Christian, 
the  commentator  upon  Blackstone,  expresses  it,  if  the 
House  of  Commons  should  see  fit,  like  Herod,  to  pass 
a  law  to  kill  all  children  below  a  certain  age,  there  is 
no  authority  to  restrain  it.^  Of  Britons  of  conserva- 
tive temper,  no  spokesman  more  entitled  to  respect 
has  been  heard  of  late  years  than  Sir  Henry  Maine,  ^ 
who  looks  across  the  Atlantic  with  admiring  eyes  at 
America,  deeming  her  most  happy  in  the  possession 


1  The  Land  and  the  Community,  Rev.  S.  AV.  Thackeray,  1889.     See 
also  Progress  and  Poverty,  Book  VII,  Chap.  IV. 

2  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  I,  p.  !)1. 

8  "  Popular  Government,"  by  Sir  Henry  Maine. 


THE   NEW   COLONIAL   EMPIRE.  263 

of  her  Supreme  Court,  her  powerful  Senate,  her  rigid, 
authoritative  instrument  behind  the  legislature,  — 
checks  most  effectual  when  popular  whim  is  dis- 
posed to  go  too  fast  and  too  far,  checks  which 
England  is  utterly  without.  To  reverence  the 
Constitution  is,  of  course,  a  sentiment  which  every 
American  drinks  in  with  his  mother's  milk ;  and 
all  who  wish  well  to  the  mother-land  will  desire  for 
her  that  as  she  takes  on  new  things,  some  such 
powerful  guarantees  of  order  and  stability  may  come. 
Possibly  it  has  been,  and  is  still,  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance that  in  this  time  of  reconstruction  the  British 
constitution  has  been,  in  Bryce's  phrase,  "  flexible." 
When,  however,  the  effete  feudalism  is  thoroughly 
sloughed  off,  one  feels  that  the  constitution  must  be 
"  rigid,"  —  that  there  must  be  some  wisely  framed 
instrument  to  stand  as  law  over  even  the  law-givers.^ 

England  is  not  only  herself  at  the  present  hour 
practically  a  democratic  republic,  but  is  the  parent  of 
vast  republics  in  the  quarters  of  the  earth  most  dis- 
tant from  her.^  In  America,  Australia,  and  Africa, 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  territories  best  adapted  by 
climate  and  soil  to  the  habitation  of  Europeans  are  in 
her  possession,  and  have  become  the  seats  of  vigorous 
and  growing  Anglo-Saxon  peoples.  The  extent  to 
which  these  have  become  endowed  with  the  ancient 
freedom  so  thoroughly  recovered  by  the  mother-land, 
can  be  made  plain  in  a  few  words.  The  old  colonial 
empire,  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  which,  after  revolting, 

1  See  view  of  Hon.  Seth  Low,  in  Bryce:  American  Commonwealth, 
I,  p.  683. 

2  Sir  T.  Erskine  May :  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  537. 


264  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

became  the  United  States,  had  been  ruled  after  the 
precedents  of  Spain.  The  dependencies  were  regarded 
as  a  source  from  which  the  mother-land  might  be  en- 
riched, and  their  interests  were  neglected  and  sacri- 
ficed in  the  pursuit  by  the  mother-land  of  this  selfish 
end.  "  Till  alienated  by  the  behavior  of  England,  the 
colonists  had  far  more  kindly  feelings  toward  her 
than  she  had  toward  them.  To  them  she  was  the  old 
home ;  to  her  they  were  simply  customers."  ^  Exasper- 
ation in  the  Colonies  was  the  inevitable  fruit  of  so  base 
a  policy,  and  in  the  end  England,  like  Spain,  lost  the 
new  lands  whose  rights  she  had  abused.  The  bitter 
experience,  as  we  have  seen,  perhaps  saved  her  own 
freedom ;  she  derived  from  it  also  the  wisdom  which 
enabled  her,  when  presently  the  vast  new  colonial 
empire  fell  within  her  grasp,  so  to  proceed  that  the 
dependencies,  instead  of  chafing  under  their  bond, 
cherish  it  with  warm  affection,  looking  upon  indepen- 
dence as  a  calamity  rather  than  a  blessing. 

The  independence  of  America  had  been  not  long 

secured,  when  the  foremost  men  of  England  began 

to  utter  tlie  wiser  doctrines  as  to  colonial 

Pitt's  Colo-  11-1  -1     •  1  p 

niai  Bill  of  ruic,  which  wcrc  to  prevail  in  the  luture. 
1791.  .      .  ■*■ 

In  1791,  Pitt  introduced  a  bill  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  Canada,  "remarkable  as  recognizing  for 
the  first  time  the  wise  and  generous  2:)riiiciple  of  in- 
dependent colonial  institutions,  which  since  then  has 
been  fully  developed  in  every  dependency  of  the 
British  Crown  capable  of  local  self-government."  '^ 
At  the  same  time,  Fox,  thougli  in  opposition  to  Pitt, 
exclaimed  that  "  the  only  method  of  retaining  distant 

1  Bryce  :  American  Commonwealtli,  I,  p.  416,  note. 

2  Massey  :  History  of  England  from  the  Aecessiou  of  George  III, 


THE   NEW  COLONIAL   EMPIRE.  265 

colonies  with  advantage  is  to  enable  them  to  govern 
themselves."  Both  Whigs  and  Tories  share  the 
credit  of  this  model  for  all  subsequent  colonial 
constitutions  .1 

But  though  the  proper  plan  was  recognized,  it 
was  not  at  once  put  in  practice.  England,  absorbed 
in  the  struggle  of  the  French  revolutionary  and  Na- 
poleonic period,  though  she  snatched  from  her  ene- 
mies vast  foreign  possessions,  had  little  leisure  to 
organize  and  administer  with  care.  Canada  was  neg- 
lected until  she  rose  at  last  in  rebellion ;  while  the 
only  use  found  for  Australia  was  as  a  prison,  fenced 
off  from  England  by  many  thousand  miles  of  sea, 
to  which  criminals  could  be  transported.  By  such 
transportation  much  had  been  done  at  an  earlier 
time  to  blast  the  prospects  of  portions  of  America. 
The  evil  policy  was  pursued  in  the  South  Sea  for 
many  years  with  so  much  energy  that  only  ruin 
seemed  possible  for  the  country  which  nature  had 
made  so  inviting.  The  day  of  better  things  came 
with  the  year  1832,  and  the  admission  in  England 
of  a  vast  body  of  the  plain  people  to  a  share  in  the 
government.  Parliament  became  at  once  in  every 
way  more  humane  and  wise  ;  and  not  the  least  of 
the  improvements  which  it  introduced  into  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  empire,  was  the  freedom  from 
home  interference  which  it  very  soon  bestowed  upon 
the  colonies.  They  rapidly  increased  until  at  the 
present  moment  the  population  of  Canada,  gathered 
into  the  great  provinces,  confederated, 
after  the  example  of  the  United  States,  Greater  bh- 
into  the  Dominion,  numbers  five  million ; 

1  Yonge  :  Constitutional  History,  p.  128. 


266  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  seven  great  lands  that  make  up  Australasia 
(New  South  Wales,  Victoria,  South  Australia,  West- 
ern Australia,  Queensland,  Tasmania,  and  New  Zea- 
land), together  with  South  Africa,  contain  as  many 
more ;  and  all  possess,  or  are  likely  very  soon  to  pos- 
sess, the  same  "  responsible  government "  which  puts 
the  mother-country  so  thoroughly  into  the  hands  of 
its  citizens.  A  Crown-appointed  governor  in  each 
colony  rejiresents  the  Sovereign,  and  like  the  Sover- 
eign, though  possessed  of  dignity  and  irremovable 
by  the  people,  is  quite  without  real  2:)0wer.  A  leg- 
islative council  composed  of  members,  sometimes 
elected,  sometimes  appointed  by  the  governor,  forms 
an  Upper  House,  no  more  potent  than  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  real  power  rests  with  the  representa- 
tives who  sit  in  the  Lower  House.  As  in  England, 
the  leaders  of  the  party  in  the  majorit}-  form  of 
necessity  the  ministry.  If  they  lose  the  support  of  the 
majority,  at  once  they  fall.  An  appeal  may  be  made 
to  the  country,  indeed ;  but  if  the  country,  in  the 
elections  which  then  take  place,  fails  to  sustain  them 
by  a  majority,  place  must  be  given  to  ministers  who 
stand  for  what  tlie  body  of  the  people  demand.  In 
Canada  alone,  as  yet,  a  confederation  has  come  about 
of  the  provinces  lying  from  east  to  west.^  Here 
each  province  has  its  legislature,  in  all  main  features 
like  the  federal  legislature,  which  convenes  at  Ot- 
tawa.    The    example  of   the  United   States  near  at 

1  For  the  constitution  of  Canada,  see  Appendix  E.  Sir  H.  Parkes, 
premier  of  New  South  Wales,  says  that  Canada  is  to  be  the  model  for 
Australian  federation.  In  tlie  near  future  three  English-speaking  fed- 
erations—  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  Australia  — are  to  dominate 
the  Pacific.  —  Sir  Charles  Dilke :  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  pp. 
58,  59  (181)0). 


tup:  neav  coloxial  empire.  267 

hand  (whose  precedents,  however,  are  always  criti- 
cally scanned)  has  brought  this  about.  ^ 

In  Australia,  there  has  been  as  yet  no  effective 
federation  of  contiguous  colonies,  though  propinquity, 
and  interests  to  a  large  extent  common,  are  making 
it  imperative.  Whether  federal  or  otherwise,  the 
self-government  in  each  great  dependency  is  com- 
plete. Any  power  of  veto  which  may  in  a  strict 
construction  of  the  constitution  belong  to  the  gov- 
ernor is  never  exercised,  and  has  as  completely 
fallen  out  of  use  as  the  veto  power  of  the  Sovereign 
of  England.  Though  some  constitutional  writers 
still  claim  that  Parliament  is  supreme  over  the 
colonies,  and  can  annul,  if  it  should  choose,  any 
action  of  a  colonial  legislature,^  no  assertion  of  that 
supremacy  has  been  made  in  any  conspicuous  man- 
ner since  the  unfortunate  effort  in  the  reign  of 
George  III ;  and  if  made,  would  excite  indignation 
unbounded.^  As  the  Crown  has  gained  in  ease  and 
popularity  what  it  has  lost  in  power,  so  the  mother- 
country,  allowing  to  the  full  the  principles  of  local 
self-government,  has  won  her  dependencies  to  her- 

1  As  to  local  self-government,  Sir  Charles  Dilke  speaks  with  enthusi- 
asm of  that  of  Canada  in  general,  and  calls  that  of  the  province  of 
Ontario  "the  best  in  the  whole  world."  Here,  elected  in  each  village 
and  township,  appear  a  "Reeve  and  four  Councillors,"  —  a  complete 
revival  of  the  ancient  name  and  usage;  for  the  Reeves,  each  with  his 
four,  make  up  the  council  of  the  shire.  In  Quebec,  too,  the  mayors  of 
the  municipalities  make  up  tlie  county  councils,  though  the  name 
"  Reeve  "  does  not  appear.—  "  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,"  p.  (W. 

2  p.  211. 

3  "  Only  when  the  obligations  of  the  empire  to  a  foreign  power  are 
affected,  or  an  imperial  statute  is  infringed,  in  matters  on  which  the 
Canadian  Parliament  has  not  full  jurisdiction,  is  the  supreme  authority 
of  England  likely  to  be  exercised."  —  Bourinot,  quoted  by  Dilke  :  Prob- 
lems of  Greater  Britain,  p.  518. 


268  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

self.  As  Sir  T.  E.  May  remarks :i  "No  liberty  or 
franchise  prized  by  Englishmen  at  home  has  been 
withlield  from  their  fellow-countrymen  in  distant 
lands.  Thus  the  most  considerable  dependencies  of 
the  British  Crown  have  advanced  until  an  ancient 
monarchy  has  become  the  parent  of  democratic  re- 
publics in  all  parts  of  the  globe.  The  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  is  scarcely  so  democratic  as 
that  of  Canada  or  Australia.  The  President's  fixed 
tenure  of  office  and  large  executive  powers,  tlie  in- 
dependent position  and  authority  of  the  Senate, 
and  the  control  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  checks 
upon  the  democracy  of  Congress.  In  these  colonies, 
the  nominees  of  a  majority  of  the  democratic  assem- 
bly, for  the  time  being,  are  absolute  masters  of  the 
colonial  government.  England  ventured  to  tax  her 
colonies  and  lost  them.  At  last  she  gave  freedom 
and  found  national  sympathy  and  contentment.  But 
in  the  meantime  her  colonial  dependencies  have 
grown  into  affiliated  States.  Instead  of  taxing  her 
colonies,  England  now  has  taxed  herself  heavily  for 
them.  She  may  well  be  prouder  of  the  vigorous 
freedom  of  her  prosperous  sons  than  of  a  hundred 
provinces  subject  to  the  iron  rule  of  British  pro- 
consuls. And  should  the  sole  remaining  ties  of 
kindred,  aifection,  and  honor  be  severed,  she  will 
reflect  with  just  exultation,  that  her  dominion  ceased, 
not  in  oppression  and  bloodshed,  but  in  the  ex- 
pansive energies  of  freedom,  and  the  hereditary 
capacity  of  her  manly  offspring  for  the  privileges  of 
self-government." 

1  Constitutional  History,  II,  p.  538,  etc.  (summarized). 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE.  269 

In  1886  occurred,  in  London  a  memorable  scene, 
which  a  newspaper  of  the  day  thus  describes :  — 

"  The  Queen  formally  opened  the  Colonial  Exhibi- 
tion to-day.  The  weather  was  beautiful,  with  bril- 
liant sunshine.  Crowds  gathered  along  q^i^^^^^  exw- 
the  route  taken  Ijy  her  Majesty  from  '''"°°  °*  ^^®- 
Buckingham  Palace  and  greeted  her  with  enthusiasm. 
The  main  hall,  in  which  the  opening  ceremonies  were 
conducted,  was  crowded  with  the  elite  of  London. 
The  large  number  of  foreign  princes  and  diplomats, 
who  attended  in  court  dress,  blended  with  the  scores 
of  British  officers  present  in  full  glittering  uniforms, 
made  a  magnificent  spectacle.  Tlie  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  Prince  Henry  of  Battenberg 
and  his  wife.  Princess  Beatrice,  and  Crown  Princess 
Victoria  of  Germany  led  the  royal  procession  through- 
out the  building,  and  were  followed  by  Lord  Harting- 
ton,  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  the  Earl  of  Derby,  and 
scores  of  other  noble  and  distinguished  pei-sons. 

"A  prominent  feature  of  the  opening  ceremonies 
was  the  ode  composed  for  the  occasion  by  Tennyson. 
This  was  magnificently  rendered  by  a  vast  choir  of 
carefully  selected  voices.  The  ode  was  sung  just 
previous  to  the  Queen's  formal  declaration  that  the 
exhibition  was  open.  The  third  portion  of  the  ode 
was  evidently  composed  with  a  view  of  stimulating 
international  fraternity  between  the  two  great  Eng- 
lish-speaking nations,  and  is  in  the  following  words :  — • 

"  Britain  fought  her  sons  of  yore ; 
Britain  failed,  and  never  more, 
Careless  of  our  growing  kin, 
Shall  we  sin  our  fathers'  sin.  — 
Men  that  in  a  narrower  day 


270  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

(Unprophetic  rulers  they) 
Drove  from  out  the  mother's  nest 
That  young  eagle  of  the  West, 
To  forage  for  herself  alone. 
Britons,  hold  your  own! 

Shall  we  not,  through  good  and  ill, 
Cleave  to  one  another  still  ? 
Britain's  myriad  voices  call : 
'  Sons,  be  welded,  each  and  all, 
Into  one  imperial  whole  ; 
One  with  Britain,  heart  and  soul, 
One  life,  one  flag,  one  fleet,  one  throne. 
Britons,  hold  your  own, 
And  God  guard  all ! '  " 

"  The  Queen  was  profoundly  pleased  with  the  ode 
and  with  tlie  manner  in  which  it  was  rendered  by  the 
choir.  She  nodded  and  smiled  with  pleasure,  ap- 
proved of  each  sentiment  as  it  was  brought  out,  and 
seemed  exceedingly  to  enjoy  the  enthusiasm  which 
the  poem  and  music  provoked  in  the  vast  concourse, 
whose  applause  was  hearty,  enthusiastic,  and  long 
continued." 

Here,  then,  in  America  and  the  British  Empire,  we 
find  in  the  world  at  present  fully  one  hundred  and 
ten  millions  of  English-speaking  men,  all  of  whom  are 
living  under  a  j)opular  freedom  as  complete  as  has 
ever  been  possessed  by  human  beings,  gathered  in 
states,  since  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

Extension  of 

Ani,'io-saxon    Nor  is  Anoflo-Saxon   freedom   confined  to 

freedom  to  " 

other  coun-      Euglish-spcaking  races  alone.     Europe,  in 

general,  has  passed  tln-ough  a  century  of 

revolution.     Old  institutions  have  been  thrown  off, 

and   there   has   been  in  all   civilized   countries   but 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE.  271 

Russia  an  adoption  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polity,  more 
or  less  modified.  Such  has  been  the  case  with 
France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Italy,  Germany,  Hungary, 
Sweden,  Norway,  Denmark,  Spain,  and  Portugal. 
In  all  these  lands,  except  France,  which  has  a  Presi- 
dent, a  Sovereign  stands  at  the  head  of  the  state,  in 
whose  name  executive  acts  are  done,  who  is  irre- 
sponsible and  irremovable.  The  power  lies  with  the 
ministers  of  the  Sovereign,  nominally  appointed  by 
him,  but  really  owing  their  positions  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  to  the  voice  of  the  majority  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people.  The  representatives, 
therefore,  through  these,  their  agents,  possess  execu- 
tive as  well  as  legislative  j^ower.  This  is  the  general 
scheme,  the  details  of  which  vary  widely.  The  su- 
premacy of  the  legislature  is  most  complete  in  France ; 
least  so  in  the  German  Empire,  and  in  Prussia,  where 
the  power  of  the  Emperor  and  King  is  great  and  not 
declining.! 

A  still  farther  extension  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  is 
perhaps  possible.  The  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  India,  it  is  believed,  have  a  capacity  for  self-govern- 
ment. Every  village  has  its  headman  and  a  ruling 
committee.  Sir  Henry  Maine,  in  his  study  of  the  vil- 
lage communities  of  IncUa,  presents  interesting  points 
of  correspondence  between  them  and  those  of  other 
Aryan  peoples.  In  them  exists  a  germ  of  local  self- 
government,  if  not  of  representative  institutions, 
which  might  be  developed  far.  East  Indians  often 
possess  high  administrative  talent.  M3-sore  and  Ba- 
roda,  two  of  the  largest  provinces,  within  a  few  years 
have  been  given  over  to  native  rule.     So  it  might  be  in 

1  Bryce:  American  Commonwealth,  I,  p.  271,  etc. 


272  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

twenty  different  states.  Why  not  a  gradual  substitu- 
tion of  native  for  English  officers  everywhere  ?  it  is 
asked.  "  A  native  administration,  stimulated  by  Eng- 
lish example,  and  still  supervised  by  Englishmen,  is 
not  an  unworthy  idea.  ...  A  confederacy  of  many 
states  and  provinces,  each  developing  peacefully  after 
its  own  fashion,  and  united  by  a  common  bond  to 
the  English  name,  is  our  dream  for  the  twentieth 
century."  ^  The  humane  wish  is  entertained  that 
Englishmen,  while  protecting  and  guiding,  may  yet 
for  the  most  part  surrender  the  natives  of  India 
to  themselves,  in  the  hope  that,  building  upon 
the  local  self-government  which  has  never  become 
extinct,  a  government  of  the  people  may  some  day 
come  out  not  remotely  resembling  that  of  their 
masters.^ 

Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  however,  can  only  be  ordered 
and  administered  with  thorough  success  by  Anglo- 
Saxon  men.  For  these  the  impulse  has 
mintstwed^'  comc  dowu  in  the  blood,  to  struggle  for  it, 
A^ngio-saxon  to  chcrish  it,  to  livc  under  it.  To  other 
races  it  is  something  foreign ;  and  as  a 
strange  tongue  rarely  becomes  so  free  and  flowing 
upon  our  lips  as  the  mother-speech,  so  as  regards  this 
ancient  freedom,  there  is  rarely  a  thorough  and  easy 
adaptation  of  it  to  races  that  have  worn  chains.  It  is 
destined  for  the  dominion  of  the  world;  and  this 
sujjremacy  it  is  to  gain,  not  as  adopted  by  peoples  to 

1  Cotton  and  Payne :  English  Colonization  and  Dependence,  English 
Citizen  Series,  p.  87.  See,  also,  the  "  Westminster  Review,"  January, 
1889,  article,  "  Federation  vs.  War,"  for  a  hopeful  view  of  India. 

2  See,  upon  this  point,  Uilke;  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  pp.  415, 
425,  433,  437. 


THE  NEW  COLONIAL  EMPIRE.  273 

whom  it  is  something  alien,  but  as  upheld  by  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking race,  so  many  million  strong,  its  separate 
nationalities  planted  at  so  many  points  of  vantage  the 
world  over,  no  more  one  in  speech  than  one  in  blood 
and  institutions. 


274  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THE  AMERICAN   POLITY. 

1789-1890. 

While  in  the  empire  of  England,  Anglo-Saxon 
freedom  has  thus  been  adapting  itself  in  throes  almost 
revolutionary  to  the  conditions  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, how  has  it  fared  in  America  ?  The  tliirteen 
States  of  1789  have  become  in  one  hundred  years 
forty-four ;  in  population,  area,  resources  of  every 
kind,  the  Union  has  multiplied  to  a  wonderful  de- 
gree. As  to  constitutional  changes,  what  have  we 
to  note? 

The  great  federal  instrument  stands  substantially 

unchanged.     The  few  amendments,  famous    though 

some  of  them  are,  wrought  out  at  such 

of  the  Federal  cost  of   blood   and   trcasurc,  call   for   no 

Constitution.  .  .  ,  ,.  .  ^tm 

notice  m  the  present  discussion.  ihe 
clauses  of  the  Constitution  have  been  regarded  with 
a  veneration  ever  deepening,  until  it  has  become 
almost  superstitious ;  to  think  of  meddling  with  its 
provisions  is,  in  the  general  view,  almost  an  impiety. 
As  regards  the  separate  commonwealths,  while 
each  one  of  the  forty-four  has  its  peculiarities,^  the 
Distrust  of  general  resemblance  is  close.  A  tendency 
legislatures.      |-q  gj-gater  claboratcness  in  the  written  con- 

1  See  Henry  Hitchcock :  American  State  Constitutions,  Putnams,  1887. 


CONDITIOX   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      275 

stitutions  is  to  be  noted,  as  new  States  have  been 
added  one  by  one,  proceeding  so  far  that  in  the  more 
recent  instruments  a  provision  for  minute  details 
exists  in  strong  contrast  with  the  older  documents. 
This  circumstance  is  due  to  a  growing  distrust,  in  the 
States,  of  the  legislatures ;  delegates  in  so  many 
cases  prove  inefficient,  corrupt,  or  in  some  way  false 
to  their  trust,  that  the  people  think  fit  more  and 
more  to  tie  their  hands.  Undoubtedly  this  deepen- 
ing dissatisfaction  with  legislatures.  Congress  itself 
as  well  as  those  of  lower  rank,  is  a  circumstance  full 
of  ill  omen.  If  the  representative  body  is  a  failure, 
then  is  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  a  failure,  and  the 
sooner  we  recur  to  the  system  of  Strafford  or  Richard 
II,  the  better.  The  ideas  of  those  historic  figures 
are  by  no  means  yet  obsolete  among  English-speak- 
ing men.^  Is  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  no  longer  well 
adapted  to  English-speaking  men  ?  What  can  be 
said  about  the  condition  of  the  primordial  cell  of 
our  body-politic  ? 

In  our  human  bodies,  if  the  cellular  tissue  is 
healthy,  the  physician  is  sure  all  will  ultimately  go 
well.  Bones  may  be  broken,  sinews  condition  of 
sprained,  a  blast  of  malaria  may  have  cefi^o""n'^'^'*' 
caused  an  ague,  or  improper  food  dyspep-  pjifty,ihe°° 
sia.  Various  kinds  of  deep-seated  trouble  p^p""^""  ™°**'- 
may  exist,  acute  and  even  chronic ;  but  if  the  pri- 
mordial cell  everywhere  is  sound,  the  patient  will 
survive.  The  proper  primordial  cell  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  body-politic  is  local  self-government  by  a  con- 
sensus of  individual  freemen ;    in   other  words,  the 

1  See  Traill :    Life  of  Strafford,  1889,  p.  204,  etc.,  and'  notice  of  the 
same  in  London  "  Saturday  Review,"  November  9,  1889. 


276  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

popular  moot,  the  thing  back  of  the  representative 
body,  the  primary  democracy  where  the  individual 
rules,  no  man's  voice  weighing  more  than  another's 
except  in  so  far  as  ability  and  character  give  him 
weight.^  This  primordial  cell,  so  fundamental  and 
needful,  —  is  it  in  the  Union  in  such  condition  that 
Americans  can  confidently  thrust  the  shoulder  under 
the  responsibilities  which  the  future  has  in  store  ? 

A  broad  division  of  the  population  of  the  United 

States  may  be  made  into  those  who  live  in  cities  and 

those  who  live  in  the  country,  —  a  division 

Examination  .  .  ,.  . 

of  rural  Quitc  neccssarv  m  the  present  discussion ; 

America.  piiip  • 

for  local  self-government  is  a  far  more 
complicated  and  embarrassing  matter  for  cities  than 
for  rural  populations.  In  1790,  one  thirtieth  of  the 
population  of  the  United  States  lived  in  cities  of  eight 
thousand  inhabitants  or  over.  The  ratio  in  our  time 
of  the  urban  to  the  rural  population  is  very  differ- 
ent, the  proportion  of  the  urban  population  having 
risen  to  one  quarter  of  the  total,  and  showing  a  con- 
stant increase. 2 

Looking  first  at  the  condition  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion, we  shall  find  in  the  various  States  of  the  Union 
communities  to  be  classed  as  follows :  those  in  which 
prevails,  first,  the  Town  system ;  second,  the  County 
system ;  third,  the  Township-County  or  Compromise 
system.^  In  the  Town  system,  confined  pretty  much 
to  New  England,  the  population  occupying  a  compara- 
tively small  area  assemble  regularly,  and  themselves 

1  H.  B.  Adams :  Germanic  Origin  of  New  England  Towns,  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies,  1st  Series,  No.  II,  p.  5. 

2  Census  Reports. 

8  S.  A.  Galpin :  Walker's  Statistical  Atlas  of  United  States,  II,  p.  10. 


CONDITION  OF  THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.      277 

discuss  and  decide  upon  public  matters,  electing  repre- 
sentatives to  stand  in  their  place  in  the  legislatures 
of  State  and  Union,  but  retaining  in  their  own  hands 
local  government.  In  the  County  system,  that  of  the 
South,  the  population  elect  officers  upon  whom  they 
throw  the  burden  of  local  government ;  there  are  no 
regular  popular  moots  for  the  discussion  of  public 
affairs,  citizens  contenting  themselves  with  the  mere 
election  of  the  county  officials :  the  latter,  if  unsatis- 
factory, are  not  subject  to  check  or  guidance  from  any 
formally  constituted  body,  but  are  simply  dropped  at 
the  next  election.  In  the  Township-County  or  Com- 
promise system,  the  two  other  systems  are  variously 
blended :  this  may  be  seen  in  the  States  of  the  Mid- 
dle and  the  West. 

Beginning  our  discussion  with  the  Town  system,  let 
us  inquire  whether  New  Englanders  have  preserved 
it  in  its  integrity.     In  the  immense  dilu-  Local  Beif- 
tion  which  the  old  stock  of  New  England  fn^erEng. 
has  undergone  through  the  foreign  human  '^°'^' 
floods  which  have  been  poured  upon  it,  its  influence 
has  of  necessity  been  often  greatly  weakened  and  the 
character  of  town  government  has   been  jnAyg^^g 
modified,  seldom  advantageously.     While  ^le'^own-''^''' 
multitudes  of  the  ancient  strain  have  for-  "meeting. 
saken  the  granite  hills,  their  places  have  been  sup- 
plied by  a  Celtic  race,  energetic  and  prolific,  whose 
teeming  families  throng  city  and  village,  threatening 
to  outnumber  the  Yankee  element,  depleted  as  it  has 
been  by  the  emigration  of  so  many  of  its  most  vigor- 
ous children.      To  these  new-comers  must  be  added 
now  the  French  Canadians,  who,  following  the  track 
of  their  warlike   ancestors   down   the  river-valleys, 


278  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

have  come  by  thousands  into  the  manufacturing 
towns  and  into  the  woods,  an  industrious  but  unpro- 
gressive  race,  good  hands  in  the  mills  and  marvel- 
lously dexterous  at  wielding  the  axe.  Whatever  may 
be  said  of  the  virtues  of  these  new-comers,  —  and,  of 
course,  a  long  list  could  be  made  out  for  them,  —  they 
have  not  been  trained  to  Anglo-Saxon  self-govern- 
ment. We  have  seen  the  origin  of  the  folk-moot  far 
back  in  Teutonic  antiquity.  As  established  in  New 
England,  it  is  a  revival  of  a  most  ancient  thing.  The 
institution  is  uncongenial  to  any  but  Teutonic  men  ; 
the  Irishman  and  Frenchman  are  not  at  home  in  it, 
and  cannot  accustom  themselves  to  it,  until,  as  the 
new  generations  come  forward,  they  take  on  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  people  among  whom  they  have  come 
to  cast  their  lot.  At  present,  in  most  old  New  Eng- 
land towns,  we  find  an  element  of  the  population 
numbering  hundreds,  often  thousands,  who  are  some- 
times quite  inert,  allowing  others  to  decide  all  things 
for  them ;  sometimes  voting  in  droves  in  an  unintelli- 
gent way  as  some  whipper-in  may  direct ;  sometimes 
in  unreasoning  partisanship,  following  through  thick 
and  thin  a  cunning  demagogue,  quite  careless  how  the 
public  welfare  may  suffer  by  his  coming  to  the  front.^ 
"  Though  the  town-meeting  of  the  New  England  of 
to-day  rarely  presents  all  the  features  of  the  town- 
meeting  of  the  Revolution,  yet  wherever 

Picture  of  it,  t       •  ^  ■         t         ^  ^  ^ 

thirty  years     the  popuiatiou  lias  remained  tolerably  pure 
from  foreign  admixture,  and  wherever  the 

1 1  have  embodied  here  some  material  from  previous  works,  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies,  2d  Series,  IV,  p.  16,  etc.,  and  also  the 
Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  Chap.  XXIII.  See  the  latter  work  for  a  de- 
tailed sketch  of  the  town  of  Boston,  —  the  most  interesting  of  New 
England  towns  in  its  most  interesting  period. 


COXDITION   OF   THE.  AMERICAN   POLITY.      279 

numbers  at  the  same  time  have  not  become  so  large 
as  to  embarrass,  the  institution  retains  much  of  its 
old  vigor.  The  writer  recalls  the  life,  as  it  was 
twenty-five  years  ago,  of  a  most  venerable  and  uncon- 
taminated  old  town,  whose  origin  dates  back  more 
than  two  hundred  years.^  At  first  it  realized  almost 
perfectly  the  idea  of  the  Teutonic  '  tun.'  For  long  it 
was  the  frontier  settlement,  with  nothing  to  the  west 
but  woods  until  the  fierce  Mohawks  were  reached, 
and  nothing  but  woods  to  the  north  until  one  came 
to  the  hostile  French  of  Canada.  About  the  houses, 
therefore,  was  drawn  the  protection  of  a  palisade  to 
enclose  them  (tynan)  against  attack.  Though  not 
without  some  foreign  intermixture,  the  old  stock 
was,  thirty  years  ago,  so  far  unchanged  that  in  the 
various  '  deestricks '  the  dialect  was  often  unmis- 
takably nasal;  the  very  bobolinks  in  the  meadow- 
grass,  and  the  bumble-bees  in  the  hollyhocks,  might 
have  been  imagined  to  chitter  and  hum  with  a  Yankee 
twang ;  and  '  Zekle  '  squired  '  Huldy '  as  of  yore,  to 
singing-school  or  apple-paring,  to  quilting  or  sugaring- 
off,  as  each  season  brought  its  appropriate  festival. 
The  same  names  stood  for  the  most  part  on  tax,  vot- 
ing, and  parish  lists  that  stood  there  in  the  time  of 
Philip's  war,  Avhen  for  a  space  the  people  were  driven 
out  by  the  Indian  pressure;  and  the  Fathers  had 
handed  down  to  the  modern  day,  with  their  names 
and  blood,  the  venerable  methods  by  which  they 
regulated  their  lives.  On  the  northern  boundary  a 
factory  village  had  sprung  up  about  a  water-power; 
at  the  south,  too,  five  miles  off,  there  was  some  rattle 
of  mills  and  sound  of  hammers.     For  the  most  part, 

1  Deerfield,  Franklin  Co.,  Massachusetts. 


280  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

liOAvever,  the  people  were  farmers,  like  tlieir  ancestors, 
reaping  great  hay-crops  in  June  with  which  to  fatten 
in  the  stall  long  rows  of  sleek  cattle  for  market  in 
December;  or  by  farmer's  alchemy,  transmuting  the 
clover  of  the  rocky  hills  into  golden  butter. 

"  From  far  and  near,  on  the  fii-st  March-Monday,  the 
men  gathered  to  the  central  village,  whose  people 
made  great  preparations  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
people  of  the  outskirts.  What  old  Yankee,  wherever 
he  may  have  strayed,  will  not  remember  the  '  town- 
meeting  gingerbread,'  and  the  great  roasts  that 
smoked  hospitably  for  all  comere  !  The  sheds  of  the 
meeting-house  close  by  were  crowded  with  hoi-ses  and 
sleighs ;  for,  in  the  intermediate  slush,  between  ice 
and  the  spring  mud,  the  runner  was  likely  to  be  bet- 
ter than  the  wheel.  Tlie  floor  of  the  town-hall  grew 
wet  and  heavy  in  the  trampling:  not  in  England 
alone  is  the  land  represented;  a  full  representation 
of  the  soil  comes  to  a  New  England  town-meet- 
ing,—  on  the  boots  of  the  freemen.  On  a  platform 
at  the  end  of  the  plain  room  sat  the  five  selectmen  in 
a  row,  —  at  their  left  the  venerable  town-clerk,^  with 
the  ample  volume  of  records  before  him.  His  memory 
went  back  to  the  men  who  were  old  in  Washington's 
administration,  who  in  their  turn  remembered  men  in 
whose  childhood  the  French  and  Indians  burned  the 
infant  settlement.  Three  lives,  the  town-clerk's  the 
third,  spanned  the  whole  history  of  the  town.  He 
was  full  of  traditions,  precedents,  minutiae  of  town 
history,  an  authority  in  ajl  disputed  points  of  pro- 
cedure from  whom  there  was  no  appeal.     In  front  of 

1  Charles  Williams,  Esq.,  known  and  beloved  far  and  near  as  "Dr. 
Charles." 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.       281 

the  row  of  selectmen,  with  their  hrown,  solid  farmer 
faces,  stood  the  Moderator,  a  vigorous  man  in  the 
forties,  six  straight  feet  in  height,  colonel  of  the 
county  regiment  of  militia,  of  a  term's  experience  in 
the  General  Court,  thus  conversant  with  parliamen- 
tary law,  a  quick  and  energetic  presiding  officer.^ 

"It  was  indeed  an  arena.  The  south  village  was 
growing  faster  than  the  '  Street,'  and  there  were 
rumors  of  efforts  to  be  made  to  move  the  town-hall 
from  its  old  place,  which  aroused  great  wrath ;  and 
both  south  village  and  '  Street '  took  it  hard  that 
part  of  the  men  of  the  districts  to  the  north  had 
favored  a  proposition  to  be  set  off  to  an  adjoining 
town.  The  weak  side  of  human  nature  came  out 
as  well  as  the  strong  in  the  numerous  jealousies  and 
bickerings.  Following  the  carefully  arranged  pro- 
gramme or  warrant,  from  which  there  could  be  no 
departure,  because  ample  warning  must  be  given  of 
every  measure  proposed,  item  after  item  was  con- 
sidered, —  a  change  here  in  the  course  of  the  high- 
way to  the  shire  town ;  how  much  should  be  raised 
by  taxes ;  the  apportionment  of  money  among  the 
school  districts ;  what  bounty  the  town  would  pay 
its  quota  of  troops  for  the  war ;  a  new  wing  for  the 
poor-house ;  whether  there  should  be  a  bridge  at  the 
west  ford.  Now  and  then  came  a  touch  of  humor, 
as  when  the  young  husbands,  married  within  the 
year,  were  elected  field-drivers,  —  officers  taking  the 
place  of  the  ancient  hog-reeves.  Once  the  Moderator 
for  the  time  being  displeased  the  meeting  by  his 
ruling  as  regards  certain  points  of  order.  '  i\Ir. 
Moderator,'    cried    out    an    ancient   citizen   with    a 

1  Colonel  Horatio  Hawks. 


282  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

twang  in  his  voice  like  that  of  a  well-played  jew's- 
harp,  'if  it's  in  awrder,  I'd  jest  like  to  inquire  the 
price  of  cawn  at  Cheapside.'  It  was  an  effective 
reductio  ad  ahsurdum.  A  rustic  Cicero,  in  a  town 
not  far  off,  whom  for  some  reason  the  physicians 
of  the  village  had  displeased,  once  filled  up  a  lull 
in  the  proceedings  with,  '  Mr.  Moderator,  I  move 
that  a  dwelling  be  erected  in  the  centre  of  the 
graveyard  in  which  the  doctors  of  the  town  be 
required  to  reside,  that  they  may  have  always  under. 
their  eyes  the  fruits  of  their  labors.' 

"  The  talkers  were  sometimes  fluent,  sometimes 
stumbling  and  awkward.  The  richest  man  in  the 
town,  at  the  same  time  the  town-treasurer,  was  usu- 
ally a  silent  looker-on.  His  son,  however,  president  of 
the  county  agricultural  society,  an  enterprising  farmer, 
whose  team  was  the  handsomest,  whose  oxen  the  fat- 
test, whose  crops  the  heaviest,  was  in  speech  forceful 
and  eloquent,  with  an  energetic  word  to  say  on  every 
question.  But  he  was  scarcely  more  prominent  in  the 
discussions  than  the  poor  broom-corn  raisers,  whose 
tax  was  only  a  few  dollars.  There  was  the  intrigue 
of  certain  free-thinkers  to  oust  the  ministere  from  the 
school-committee,  —  the  manoeuvring  of  the  factions 
to  get  hold  of  the  German  colony,  a  body  of  immi- 
grants lately  imported  into  the  factory  village  to  the 
north.  These  sat  in  a  solid  mass  to  one  side  while 
the  proceedings  went  on  in  an  unknown  tongue,  with- 
out previous  training  for  such  work,  voting  this  way 
or  that,  according  to  the  direction  of  two  or  three 
leaders. 

"  Watching  it  all,  one  could  see  how  perfect  a  democ- 
racy it  was.     Things  were  often  done  far  enough  from 


COXDITIOX   OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.       283 

the  best  way.  Unwise  or  doubtful  men  were  put  in 
office,  important  projects  stinted  by  niggardly  appro- 
priations, unworthy  prejudices  allowed  to  interfere 
with  wise  enterprises.  Business  was  sometimes  blocked 
by  angiy  disputes  over  petty  questions.  Yet  in  the 
main  the  result  was  good.  This  was  especially  to  be 
noted,  how  thoroughly  the  public  spirit  of  those  who 
took  part  was  stimulated,  and  how  well  they  were 
trained  to  self-reliance,  intelligence  of  various  kinds, 
and  love  for  freedom.  The  rough  blacksmith  or  shoe- 
maker, who  had  his  say  as  to  what  should  be  the 
restriction  about  the  keeping  of  dogs,  or  the  pasturing 
of  sheep  on  the  western  hills,  spoke  his  mind  in 
homely  fashion  enough,  and  possibly  recommended 
some  course  not  the  wisest.  That  he  could  do  so, 
however,  helped  his  self-respect,  caused  him  to  take 
a  deeper  interest  in  affairs  beyond  himself,  than  if 
things  were  managed  without  a  right  on  his  part  to 
interfere ;  and  this  gain  in  self-respect,  public  spirit, 
self-reliance,  to  the  blacksmith  and  shoemaker  is 
worth  far  more  than  a  mere  smooth  or  cheap  car- 
rying-on of  affairs." 

Is  there  anything  more  valuable  among  Anglo- 
Saxon  institutions  than  this  same  ancient  popular  moot, 
this  old-fashioned  New  England  town-meet-  Tributes  to  its 
ing  ?  What  a  list  of  important  men  can  be  ^*'"^" 
cited  who  have  declared  in  the  strongest  terms  that 
tongue  can  utter,  their  conviction  of  its  preciousness  !  ^ 


1  John  Stuart  Mill :  Representative  Government,  p.  64,  etc.  De 
Tocqueville :  De  la  Dcmocratie  en  Ame'rique,  I,  p.  96,  etc.  J.  Toulmin 
Smith :  Local  Self-Government  and  Centralization,  p.  29,  etc.  May  : 
Constitutional  History  of  England,  II,  p.  HiO.  Bluntschli:  quoted  by 
H.  B.  Adams,  Germanic  Origin  of  !N^ew  England  Towns.    Jefferson:  to 


284  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

It  has  been  alleged  that  to  this  more  than  anjiihing 
else  was  due  the  supremacy  of  England  in  America, 
the  successful  colonization  out  of  which  grew  at  last 
the  United  States.  France  failed  precisely  for  want 
of  this.^  England  prevailed  precisely  because  "  nations 
which  are  accustomed  to  township  institutions  and 
municipal  government  are  better  able  than  any  other 
to  found  prosperous  colonies.  The  habit  of  thinking 
and  governing  for  one's  self  is  indispensable  in  a  new 
country."  So  says  De  Tocqueville,  seeking  an  expla- 
nation for  the  failure  of  liis  own  race  and  the  victory 
of  its  great  rival.^  None  have  admired  this  thorough 
New  England  democracy  more  heartily  than  those 
living  under  a  very  different  polity.  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  of  Virginia,  wrote  in  admiration  of  Massachu- 
setts,^ —  "  where  yet  I  hope  to  finish  the  remainder  of 
my  days.  The  hasty,  unpersevering,  aristocratic  genius 
of  the  South  suits  not  my  disposition,  and  is  inconsis- 
tent with  my  views  of  what  must  constitute  social 
happiness  and  security."  Jefferson  becomes  almost 
fierce  in  the  earnestness  with  which  he  urges  Virginia 
to  adopt  the  township.  "  Those  wards,  called  town- 
ships in  New  England,  are  the  vital  principle  of  their 
governments,  and  have  proved  themselves  the  wisest 
invention  ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man  for  the  per- 
fect exercise  of  self-government,  and  for  its  preserva- 
tion. ...     As  Cato,  then,  concluded  every  speech  with 

Kercheval,  July  12,  1816,  and  to  Cabell,  February  2,  1816.  Jolm  Adams : 
Letter  to  his  Wife,  October  2!»,  1775.  Samuel  Adams  :  Letter  to  Noah 
Webster,  April  oO,  1784.  R.  W.  Emerson;  Concord  Bicentennial  Dis- 
course, 1835,  etc. 

1  Lecky :  History  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  T,  p.  387. 

2  De  la  Democratie  en  Amerique,  I,  p.  423. 

3  Life  of  R.  H.  Lee  ;  Letter  to  John  Adams,  October  7,  1779,  I,  p.  226. 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.      285 

the  words  '  Carthago  delenda  est,^  so  do  I  every 
opinion  with  the  injunction :  '  Divide  the  counties 
into  wards ! '  "  ^ 

A  vast  emigration  has  gone  from  New  England  to 
the  West,  until  it  is  estimated  that  fully  one-quarter 
of  the  population  of  the  United  States  is  settlement  of 
directly  or  indirectly  of  New  England  *^«'W*^«*- 
origin.  Skipping  the  neighborhood  of  the  Hudson 
River,  which  was  occupied  by  the  descendants  of  the 
Dutch  and  the  tenants  of  the  old  patroon  estates,  the 
New  England  emigrants  close  upon  a  century  ago 
filled  up  Central  and  Western  New  York.  Then 
following  the  parallels  of  latitude  farther  west, 
hemmed  in  by  the  Lakes  on  one  hand,  and  swerving 
little  to  the  southward,  except  when  now  and  then 
attracted  by  some  point  of  special  advantage,  they 
have  penetrated  into  the  Northwest,  and  are  mingled 
plentifully  with  the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Have  they  carried  with  them  the  town-meeting? 
Grayson,  a  public  character  of  prominence  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  wrote  Madison  that  in  the 
settlement  of  the  West  "the  New  Englanders  were 
amazingly  attached  to  their  own  custom  of  planting 
by  townships."  So  it  has  always  been.  Wherever 
they  have  gone,  they  have  carried  the  town,  and  to 
some  extent  the  town-meeting.  It  will  be  interest- 
ing to  study  the  result  in  some  of  the  newer  States. 

It  is,  perhaps,  a  law  of  Western  political  evolution 
that  the  county  should  precede  the  system  finally 
adopted.  In  a  thinly  settled  country,  the  county 
organization  is  simpler  and  cheaper ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a 
widely  extended  township,  and  resembles  in  every 

1  Works,  VI,  p.  544 ,  VII,  p.  13. 


286  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

way  the  tunscipe,  except  in  the  absence  of  the  popu- 
lar moot,  which  the  broad  distances  to  be  traversed 
make  impossible.^  The  West  may  be  said  to  have 
Ordinance  of  bcgun  with  the  Ordinance  of  1787 ;  for 
^^^^'  though  before  that  scattered  settlers  had 

poured  across  the  AUeghanies  into  Kentucky,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Ohio,  no  proper  political  society  had 
been  in  any  way  as  yet  formed.  At  first,  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  government  was  thoroughly 
centralized,  consisting  of  a  governor,  secretary,  and 
judges,  —  all  appointed  by  Congress.^  It  was  not  until 
a  population  of   five  thousand  males  had 

Local  self.  i  i    .        >-.i  •         . 

government  gathered  lu  Ohio,  m  consequence  of  the 
Marietta  effort,  that  a  general  assembly  ap- 
peared. Washington  County  now  occupied  one-half 
of  Ohio,  a  centralized  system  still  prevailing:  this  was 
intended  to  be  temporary;  and  when,  in  1802,  Ohio 
became  a  State,  three  elective  county  commissioners 
took  the  place  of  the  appointed  functionaries,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  charge  of  roads,  bridges, 
ferries,  the  poor,  taxation,  sometimes  of  the  schools ; 
in  short,  a  general  administrative  authority.  As 
Ohio  grew,  this  form  of  local  development  in  its  gen- 
eral features  remained.  The  territory  was  subdi- 
vided into  counties,  and  these  again  into  feebly 
marked  towns ;  but  no  town-meeting  appeared,  as  in 
New  England,  and  no  county-meeting,  or  shire-moot, 
as  in  Pennsylvania.^  When  population  thickened  at 
any  point  into  a  village,  a  borough  or  municipality 

1  George  E.  Howard  :  Introduction  to  the  Local  Cbnstitutional  His- 
tory of  the  United  States,  I,  p.  149,  etc.  Baltimore,  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  1(S89.  I  am  much  indebted  to  Professor  Howard's  very 
scholarly  survey. 

a  Howard,  I,  p.  408,  etc.  s  p.  127. 


CONDITION  OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.       287 

took  shape,  with  mayor  and  council.  The  Ohio  fash- 
ion was  presently  followed  by  Indiana,  and  later  by 
Iowa,  Missouri,  and  Kansas. 

Quite  different  was  the  course  of  events  further 
north.  Let  us  look  first  at  Michigan.  "  If  you  seek 
a  pleasant  peninsula,  look  around  you,"  is 
the  motto  upon  her  seal,^  and  what  State  °  "  *^°' 
of  the  Union  is  more  beautiful  in  its  situation  ?  En- 
circled everywhere  but  on  the  south  by  the  Great 
Lakes,  the  summer  heat  is  tempered  salutarily  as 
these  breathe  across  to  one  another;  and  in  the 
winter  the  same  beneficent  neighbors  mitigate  the 
severity  of  the  frost.  Nobly  timbered  and  well- 
watered,  Michigan  possesses  also  vast  tracts  where 
lie  open  to  the  sun  the  many-acred  farms;  these 
"laugh  with  harvests,"  which  the  world  nowhere 
surpasses  when  "  tickled  with  the  hoe."  Thus  for- 
tunate by  nature,  the  commonwealth  has  been  fortu- 
nate in  her  whole  development,  as  in  these  latter 
days  population  has  poured  in  upon  her,  and  civil 
society  has  gradually  taken  shape.  To  her  American 
stock  have  been  added  the  best  elements  of  our  for- 
eign immigration.  Nowhere  are  the  external  condi- 
tions fairer ;  nowhere,  perhaps,  is  there  more  intel- 
ligence, enterprise,  and  moral  worth.  Her  great 
university  has  been  the  source  of  benefits  incalcu- 
lable ;  and  in  symmetrical  subordination  to  it,  wisely 
planned  and  well  administered,  a  public-school  sys- 
tem, exceptionally  good,  affords  an  education  to 
every  child  within  her  borders. 

The  French,  who  early  o  ccupied   Detroit,  Mack- 
inaw, and  still  other  points,  had   as    usual  no  local 

1  "Si  peninsulam  amoenam  quaeris,  circumspice." 


288  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

self-government;  hence,  no  doubt,  the  feebleness  of 
their  colonizing  here  as  everywhere.^  Seigneurs  held 
great  estates,  as  in  New  France  in  general,  and  law, 
when  not  feudal,  was  military,  all  being  subject  to 
the  convenience  of  the  garrisons.  The  French  set- 
tlers enjoyed  much  personal  license,  but  had  no  con- 
ception of  municipal  freedom  or  self-government. 
"  They  received,  unquestioning,  their  law  from  the 
King  and  their  religion  from  the  priests."  ^  The 
picturesque  French  era  having  passed,  the  British 
conquerors  transferred  Michigan,  after  a  brief  pos- 
session, into  the  hands  of  the  United  States  in  1796, 
when  an  influx  began  from  Western  and  Central 
New  York  and  the  States  farther  east,  —  in  great  part, 
directly  or  indirectly,  a  New  England  stream.  At 
once  upon  occupying  the  soil,  the  settlers  showed 
that  tenacious  clinging  to  the  town  of  which  Grayson 
wrote  to  Madison.  A  statesman,  perhaps  too  soon 
forgotten,  of  New  England  birth,  influenced  power- 
fully the  develo2:>ment  of  Michigan,  —  Lewis  Cass. 
As  territorial  governor,  from  1813  to  1831,  he  used 
his  large  powers,  in  the  important  forming  years, 
to  make  vigorous  everywhere  local  self-government. 
"In  proportion,"  said  he,  "as  government  recedes 
from  the  people,  it  becomes  liable  to  abuse.  What- 
ever authority  can  be  conveniently  exercised  in  pri- 
mary assemblies  can  be  deposited  tliere  with  safety. 
They  furnisli  practical  schools  for  the  consideration 
of  political  subjects,  and  no  one  can  revert  to  the 
history  of  our  Revolutionary  struggle,  without  being 

1  Lecky  :  History  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  I,  p.  387.    De  Tocque- 
ville:  De  la  Democratie  en  Amerique,  I,  p.  423. 

2  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  1st  Series,  V,  p.  9.    E.  W.  Bemis. 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      289 

sensible  that  to  their  operation  we  are  indebted  for 
much  of  the  energy,  unanimity,  and  intelligence 
which  were  displayed  by  our  people  at  that  important 
crisis.  These  institutions  have  elsewhere '  produced 
the  most  beneficial  effects  upon  the  character  of 
communities  and  upop  the  general  course  of  public 
measures."  ^ 

Michigan  was  the  first  State  of  the  West  to  adopt 
the  town-meeting,  but  certain  noteworthy  changes 
mark  the  transferrence.  In  New  England  of  the 
seventeenth  century  scarcely  any  two  towns  were 
exactly  alike,  though  the  general  type  was  the  same. 
The  new  towns  of  the  West,  however,  are  duplicates 
of  one  another.  The  Western  town-meeting  has  lost 
some  of  the  attributes  of  the  primitive  moot.  Pop- 
ular enthusiasm  is  less  pronounced  in  it :  it  has  be- 
come a  commonplace  business-meeting,  the  ancient 
democratic  elements  having  yielded  in  part  to  a  rep- 
resentative plan.  Of  the  officials  whom  it  elects, 
the  highest  is  the  supervisor;  and  in  every  county 
the  township  supervisors  uniting,  form  the  County 
Board,  which  possesses  large  administrative  functions. 
In  this  form  of  procedure,  the  precedent  of  New  York 
in  1705  is  followed ;  and  in  this  we  find  in  its  best 
estate  the  Township-County  or  Compromise  system. 
We  need  not  be  sorry,  thinks  Professor  Howard,  that 
the  more  democratic  way  has  thus  yielded  in  part  to 
"the  more  efficient  and  less  demonstrative  methods 
of  representative  government.  Its  powers  are  com- 
mensurate with  the  needs  of  a  more  fully  developed 
society,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  regret  that  the  exces- 

1  Quoted  by  E.  W.  Bemis :  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  1st 
Series,  V,  p.  12. 


2y0  AXGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM 

sive  publicity  and  obtrusive  functionalism  of  primi- 
tive New  England  have  not  been  perpetuated."  ^  By 
1827,  before  its  admission  to  the  Union,  Michigan 
had  definitely  fixed  its  Township-County  organization 
in  which  she  has  been  followed  since  by  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  and  Nebraska.  "  In  the  States  of  this 
group,"  says  Howard,  "  localism  finds  its  freest  ex- 
pression :  the  town-meeting  possesses  powers  com- 
mensurate with  the  requirements  of  modern  life ;  ^ 
the  primitive  and  proper  nexus  between  scir  and  tun- 
scipe  is  restored ;  the  township  is  under  the  county, 
but  represented  there.  The  County  Board  of  Super- 
visors is  the  old  scir-moot  over  again.  The  Town- 
ship-County system  of  the  Northwest  is  one  of  the 
most  perfect  products  of  the  English  mind,  worthy 
to  become,  as  it  may  not  improbably  become,  the 
prevailing  type  in  the  United  States."  ^ 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  career  of  still 
another  great  commonwealth  which  has  come  into 
being,  like  Michigan,  in  that  vast  North- 
west Territory  of  a  century  ago,  —  Illinois.^ 
Like  Michigan,  its  first  white  population  was  French, 
whose  characteristics  at  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Fort 
Chartres  were  no  doubt  the  same  as  at  Detroit. 
In  1778,  the  Northwest  Territory  was  conquered 
by  Virginia,  in  a  military  enterprise  quite  inde- 
pendent of  the  Continental  Congress,  from  the  Eng- 

1  Local  Self-Government  in  the  United  States,  I,  p.  162. 

2  A  New  Englander  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  Western  town-meet- 
ing has  lost  far  too  much  of  the  character  of  its  prototype  of  the  East- 
ern States,  whatever  its  gains  may  have  been. 

3  Local  Self-Government  in  the  United  States,  I,  p.  158. 

*  Albert  Shaw :  Local  Government  in  Illinois,  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity Studies,  1st  Series,  IIL 


CUx\UITIOX   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      291 

lish,  who  had  enjoyed  a  brief  period  of  possession. 
The  enterprise  and  courage  shown  in  the  conquest 
by  Major  George  Rogers  Clarke,  the  commander 
of  the  force,  were  paralleled  by  the  magnanimity 
with  which,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  peace  and 
welfare,  Virginia  again  resigned  her  acquisition,  that 
it  might  become  the  possession  of  the  United  States. 
Illinois,  however,  had  received  a  distinct  Virginia 
impress,  which  became  more  marked  as  time  went 
on,  the  population  which  flowed  in  being  almost 
exclusively  from  Virginia  and  her  child,  Kentucky, 
with  some  infusion  from  North  Carolina.  In  1809, 
Illinois  became  a  Territory,  its  present  limits  being 
defined ;  in  1818,  a  State,  the  settlements  thus  far 
being  almost  entirely  in  the  southern  part,  and  the 
organization  after  the  southern  or  County  system. 
The  entire  administration  in  each  one  of  the  fifteen 
counties  into  which  the  State  had  been  divided  was 
given  to  three  commissioners,  elected  by  the  people, 
to  whom  the  people  surrendered  all  public  manage- 
ment, with  little  or  no  oversight  of  their  own. 

But  Congress  had  taken  a  step  which  led  to  im- 
portant results.  In  surveying  the  public  domain. 
Congress  had  caused  the  lands  to  be  divided  into 
sections  six  miles  square,  to  which  were  given  the 
name  of  townships.  In  each  township  a  square  mile 
of  land  was  set  off  for  a  school  fund,  the  town- 
ship becoming  a  body  corporate  and  politic  for  school 
purposes,  authorized  to  maintain  schools,  and  offi- 
cers necessary  for  their  administration.  The  Illinois 
township  was  at  first  far  enough  from  the  New 
England  township,  being  in  many  cases  quite  unin- 
habited; but  there  is  much  in  a  name.     As  popula- 


292  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

tion  came  in,  the  school  served  the  same  purpose 
which  had  been  served  in  the  earlier  day  by  the 
meeting-house.^  The  religious  faitlis  of  the  immi- 
grants were  various,  not  all  of  one  stripe,  as  in  the  New 
England  beginning.  Nor  was  there  any  compulsory- 
law  as  to  church  attendance.  Each  family,  however, 
settled  within  convenient  reach  of  the  school-house, 
for  which  in  each  township  such  liberal  public  pro- 
vision had  been  made.  Gradually  the  election  dis- 
tricts in  which  the  county  officers  were  chosen  came 
to  coincide  with  the  congressional  townships,  the 
school-house  becoming  a  convenient  voting-place. 

In  1820,  an  important  crisis  occurred.  Missouri 
having  been  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  slave  state, 
Southern  immigration  was  largely  diverted  thither ; 
while  at  the  same  time  New  Yorkers  and  New  Eng- 
landers  flowed  into  Northern  Illinois.  A  fierce 
struggle  set  in  between  North  and  South  over  a  new 
constitution,  —  a  struggle  which  did  not  culminate 
until  1847,  when  it  was  established  that  the  legis- 
lature should  make  a  general  law  for  the  organization 
of  townships,  the  township  and  not  the  county  to  be 
the  political  unit,  —  under  which  law  any  county 
might  act  when  a  majority  of  its  votere  saw  fit  to  do 
so.  As  time  has  passed,  the  old  animosity  has 
declined,  and  the  State,  north  and  south,  has  come  in 
general  to  feel  the  advantages  of  the  township.  Of 
the  one  hundred  and  two  counties  which  Illinois 
to-day  contains,  only  twenty-three  have  refused  the 
Township  organization,  preferring  instead  the  County 
system  with  its  very  imperfect  local  self-government. 
The  Illinois  system,  like  that   of  Michigan,  is  not 

1  p.  116. 


CONDITION  OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY       293 

that  of  New  England ;  possibly,  it  is  in  some  ways 
a  better  one,  the  supervisors  sitting,  each  for  his 
township,  on  the  county  board,  like  the  ancient 
reeves  in  the  shire-moot.  As  regards  the  great  pur- 
poses which  local  self-government  may  serve,  aside 
from  the  convenient  despatch  of  business,  —  to  evoke, 
namely,  from  the  individual  citizens  who  are  forced 
to  administer  it,  a  vivid  interest  in  public  concerns, 
and  to  impart  to  them  an  education  which  above  all 
things  the  freeman  requires,  —  the  system  is  efficient. 
Upon  the  map,  the  great  State  of  Illinois  extends, 
blocked  out  in  its  counties,  with  something  of  the 
square  precision  of  a  chess-board.  In  the  game 
which  must  always  go  forward  in  a  society  between 
the  spirit  of  civilization  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
forces  of  anarchy  and  disorder  on  the  other,  it  is 
cheering  to  feel  that  on  so  fair  a  field  as  this  at 
least  there  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  which  shall 
receive  checkmate. 

The   condition   of    self-government  in   the    West 
need  not  be  set  forth  at  greater  length.     It  is  at  its 
best  estate  in  the  Township-County  system  xhe  Town. 
of  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Ke-  Byl^^mTtL 
braska.      It  is  in  least  satisfactory  form  ^'°'''''^"^'^^'- 
in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  where  the 
County  system  prevails,  and  self-government  is  not 
brought   vigorously   home   to    the    individual    man 
through    a   well-developed    township    environment. 
As  new  States   have   been   constituted,  and  as  the 
older  States  have  gone  forward  in  their  growth,  vari- 
ous intermediate  types  have  been  presented.     By  a 
law   of   1879,   for   instance,   in    Missouri,   the  same 
option  was  offered  to  the  counties  to  take,  if  they 


Ijy4  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

chose,  a  Township  organization,  as  was  offered  to  the 
counties  of  Illinois.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen Missouri  counties,  however,  but  eighteen  have 
as  yet  adopted  the  Township  organization.  Never- 
theless, the  tendency  is  in  that  direction  as  popula- 
tion grows  dense,  and  Missouri  may  be  regarded  as 
undergoing  a  transition.  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  the 
Dakotas  occupy  a  position  intermediate ;  the  town- 
ship has  more  extended  powers  than  in  Ohio,  pos- 
sessing, for  instance,  an  annual  town-meeting  for 
legislation  as  well  as  election.  The  township,  how- 
ever, has  no  representation  upon  the  county  board, 
which  consists  of  commissioners  few  in  number, 
sometimes  not  more  than  three,  sometimes  seven  or 
eight,  elected  at  large,  and  exercising  wide  control.^ 
It  is  claimed  for  this  form  that  it  is  more  cheap  and 
efficient  than  the  more  numerous  county  board  made 
up  of  township  supervisors ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
said  to  offer  dangerous  facilities  to  the  formation  of 
"  court-house  rings."  Professor  Howard  holds  it 
to  be  less  consonant  with  Anglo-Saxon  precedents 
and  a  falling  short  of  the  highest  ideal  of  social  self- 
government.  In  the  new  States  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  the  inchoate  societies  of  the  mountain  and  desert 
regions  which  lie  back  of  them,  the  Township-County 
plan  is  approached  in  those  lying  toward  the  North ; 
the  County  plan  in  those  of  the  Centre  and  South. 

The   County  plan    prevailed  until  the  Civil  War 
throughout  the  entire  South.     We  have  seen  that  in 

Virginia,  to    such   an   extent    the    parent 
system  of  the    and  typical  colony  of  the  South,  the  form 

of  society  originally  established  approached 

1  Howard  :  Local  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  158. 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      295 

that  of  contemporary  England.  There  were,  namely, 
vast  landed  estates,  which  descended  by  primogeni- 
ture, —  a  system  inevitably  resulting  in  an  aristocracy 
with  which  lay  all  social  and  political  prestige,  while  a 
great  proportion  of  the  population  were  in  a  depressed 
condition.  The  cultivation  of  tobacco,  stimulating 
as  it  did  negro  slavery  and  increasing  the  tendency 
to  scatter,  already  marked  through  the  prevailing 
form  of  land-tenure,  made  anything  like  a  popular 
moot  impossible.  There  were,  to  begin  with,  few 
yeomen,  small  independent  farmers,  as  in  New  Eng- 
land, the  class  to  whom  the  moot  was  almost  a  nec- 
essary appurtenance ;  in  the  wide  distribution  of 
population,  any  consensus,  whether  obtained  in 
formal  moot,  or  through  informal  talk,  was  scarcely 
possible.  Great  counties  were  practically  the  pri- 
mary divisions,  whose  officers,  justices  appointed  by 
the  governor,  or,  indeed,  provided  for  after  the  man- 
ner of  a  close  corporation,  performed  all  adminis- 
trative functions  with  small  responsibility  to  the 
people. 

As  the  South  came  forward,  Virginia  continued  to 
be  scarcely  less  typical  than  in  the  early  period. 
Cotton,  w^hich  grew  to  be  king  over  so  vast  a  dis- 
trict, as  tobacco  had  been  in  the  Old  Dominion,  was 
equally  potent  in  promoting  slavery,  a  system  of  large 
plantations  rather  than  small  holdings,  an  aristocracy 
in  whose  hands  should  lie  all  power,  and  a  vast  class 
of  poor  whites  with  few  of  the  qualities  of  freemen : 
it  was  equally  potent,  too,  in  discouraging  town  life 
and  all  forms  of  the  moot.  Everywhere  through  the 
South  and  Southwest  the  County  system  prevailed,  its 
functionaries   qualified   by  the    oligarchy   in   power 


296  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

through  some  form  of  appointment  or  election,  but 
subject  to  no  popular  control,  and  with  no  shadow 
of  responsibility  to  any  form  of  folk-moot. 

Since  the  war,  however,  noteworthy  changes  have 
been  in  progress.  In  the  New  South,  mining,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures  have  largely  thrust  into  the 
background  the  old  plantation  life.  Slavery  is  abol- 
ished. A  more  democratic  spirit  prevails,  and  as  a 
natural  consequence  the  disposition  grows  active  to 
cherish  the  safeguards  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom.  First 
among  such  safeguards  the  public  school  lifts  its  head. 
The  school  system  of  the  North  is  rapidly  making  its 
way  in  the  South,  and  "  is  likely  to  prove  the  model 
for  the  entire  transformation  of  the  social  body."  ^ 
In  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Texas,  and  Tennessee,  the 
people  vote  school  taxes  and  choose  school  officers ; 
in  Alabama  the  township  has  been  formally  instituted 
mainly  for  this  purpose.  The  school  district,  with 
its  belongings,  is  being  firmly  driven  by  the  new 
democratic  spirit  into  the  ancient  Southern  frame- 
work, and  plainly  is  an  entering  wedge  for  local 
self-government  on  a  larger  scale.  Clearly,  the 
school-meeting  is  to  be  a  preparation  for  the  town- 
meeting.2  In  the  salutary  changes,  Virginia,  as  ever, 
is  a  leader.  In  1869,  in  days  of  disfranchisement, 
the  Township-County  system  was  projected  for  her ; 
and  promptly  repudiated,  in  1874,  when  the  State 
was  restored  to  herself.  In  what  was  substituted, 
however,  the  best  features  of  the  rejected  plan  were 
retained,  all  terminology  being  avoided  which  smelt 
of  the  "  carpet-bag."     Each  county  was  divided  into 

1  Howard,  Local  Constitutional  History,  I,  p.  237. 

2  E.  W.  Bemis,  quoted  by  Howard,  Loc.  Const.  Hist.,  I,  p.  237. 


CONDITION  OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.      297 

not  less  than  three  divisions  to  which  the  name  of 
"  ma'gisterial  districts  "  was  attached,  the  abhorrent 
word  "township"  being  ignominiously  cast  out. 
Each  such  district  has  its  elected  supervisor  among 
other  functionaries,  and  the  supervisor  constitute, 
after  the  best  precedents,  the  county  board.  Again, 
each  larger  district  is  subdivided  into  school  districts. 
West  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  show  a  similar 
change.^ 

As  Mr.  Bryce  summarizes,  the  Union  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  zones,  —  northern,  middle,  and 
southern.  The  northern  zone  extends  from  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Yellowstone  with  the  Missouri  east- 
ward to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  includes  the  Dako- 
tas,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and 
New  England.  There  the  town-meeting  in  prepon- 
derant activity  is  the  unit  of  local  government.  The 
middle  zone  stretches  from  California  to  New  Jersey 
and  New  York  along  the  fortieth  parallel.  This  is 
characterized  by  the  Compromise  system ;  in  a  part  of 
the  States  one  side  of  the  organization  preponderating, 
in  part  the  other.  All,  however,  are  alike  in  this, — 
you  cannot  lose  sight  for  a  moment  of  the  larger  or 
smaller  area.  The  third  zone  includes  all  the  South- 
ern States.  Here  the  county  is  predominant,  though 
here  and  there  school  districts,  and  even  townships, 
are  growing  in  significance. ^ 

The  town-meeting,  he  continues,  has  been  not  only 
the  source,  but  the  school  of  democracy ;  but  the  ac- 
tion of  so  small  a  unit  needs  to  be  suj>  Advantages  of 

1  J.    J  1  •  •     J        j^       1         the  Township- 

plemented,  perhaps  m  some  points  to  be   county  ays- 
supervised,  by  that  of  the  county ;  and  in 

1  Howard,  I,  p.  233.  2  Bryce  :  American  Commonwealth,  I,  p.  582. 


298  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

this  respect  the  mixed  system  of  the  Middle  States  is 
deemed  to  have  borne  its  part  in  the  creation  of  a  per- 
fect type.  An  assimilative  process  has  been  going  on 
for  some  time,  tending  to  the  evolution  of  such  a 
type  all  over  the  United  States.  In  adopting  the 
Township  system  of  New  England,  the  Northwest 
States  have  borrowed  some  of  the  attributes  of  the 
County  system  of  the  Middle  States.  The  Middle 
States,  moreover,  have  developed  the  townsliip  into  a 
higher  vitality  than  it  formerly  had  among  them. 
Some  of  the  Southern  States  are  introducing  the  town- 
ship, and  others  are  likely  to  follow  as  they  advance 
in  population  and  education.  It  is  possible  that  by 
the  middle  of  the  next  century  there  will  prevail  one 
system,  uniform  in  its  outlines,  over  the  whole  country, 
with  the  township  for  its  basis,  and  the  county  as  the 
organ  called  to  deal  with  those  matters,  which,  while 
they  are  too  large  for  township  management,  it  seems 
inexpedient  to  remit  to  the  unliealthy  atmosphere  of 
a  State  capital.^ 

As   to   efficient   local   self-government,   then,   the 
proper  primordial  cell  of  our  body  politic,  the  rural 
communities  of  America,  may  be  said  to 
of  urban  promisc  wcU,  on  the  whole  :  while  short- 

comings abound,  improvement  may  be  an- 
ticipated, with  a  good  prospect  of  a  desirable  out- 
come. But  as  yet  we  are  far  from  having  finished 
our  examination.  At  countless  points  in  the  West 
population  has  grown  dense,  and  a  form  of  govern- 
ment at  once  assumed  in  which  the  individual  dis- 
charges himself  of  a  great  part  of  his  responsibility. 

1  Bryce :  American  Commonwealth,  I,  pp.  591,  592. 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      299 

In  the  older  States  along  the  seaboard,  municipalities 
have  increased  vastly  in  size  and  number,  with  a  simi- 
lar result.  One  quarter,  nearly,  of  the  sixty  millions 
of  America  are  dwellers  in  cities ;  in  some  States, 
as  New  York,  more  than  one-half,  and  the 

.      -  ,  ,  ,  Growth  and 

proportion  oi  the  urban  to  the  rural  popu-  multiplication 

5     .  .  ,       .  .  of  cities. 

lation  is  constantly  increasing. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  regard  this  fact  as  a  calamity. 
In  Australia,  the  proportion  of  the  urban  to  the  rural 
population  is  far  larger  than  with  us  and  excites  no 
alarm.  Sydney  and  Adelaide  alone  contain  about 
thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  people  of  their  respective 
colonies,  and  Melbourne  a  still  higher  per  cent.  In 
each  case  "the  population  of  the  colony,  generally 
speaking,  gains,  from  the  concentration  in  the  capitals, 
in  education,  in  power  of  recreation,  and  in  many  of 
the  matters  which  make  life  most  pleasant.  The 
effect  must  be  a  quickening  of  the  national  pulse,  and 
is  already,  in  fact,  visible  in  the  brightness  and  high 
intelligence  of  the  Australian  people."  The  Austra- 
lians contend  that  the  people  are  not  drawn  from  pro- 
duction, but  only  concentrated  for  business  and  social 
life,  and  that  the  whole  civilized  world  is  coming  to 
this.^  Americans  have  not  as  yet  learned  to  take  so 
cheerful  a  view  as  this,  chiefly  from  the  fact  that 
the  problem  of  city  government  has  so  far  not  been 
mastered. 

"  When  a  community  of  moderate  size,  which  has 
gone  forward  under  its  town-meeting,  at  length  in- 
creases so  far  as  to  be  entitled  to  a  city  charter,  the 
day  is  commonly  hailed  with  ringing  of  bells  and 
salutes  of  cannon.     Is  it  really  a  time  to  be  rejoiced 

1  Dilke :  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  p.  497. 


300  ANGLO-SAXON^  FREEDOM. 

over  ?  What  does  it  mean  ?  This  —  that  the  people 
cease  to  govern  themselves :  once  a  year  they  choose 
those  who  are  to  govern  for  them.  Instead  of  the 
town-meeting  discussions  and  votes,  one  must  now 
spend  only  ten  minutes  perhaps  in  a  year :  no  more 
listening  to  long  debates  about  schools,  roads,  and 
bridges ;  one  has  only  to  drop  a  slip  of  paper  contain- 
ing a  list  which  some  one  has  been  kind  enough  to 
prepare  for  him,  into  a  box,  and  he  has  done  his  duty 
as  a  citizen.  In  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
the  mayor  and  common  council,  representing  the 
citizens,  do  the  work  for  them,  individuals  being  dis- 
charged from  the  somewhat  burdensome,  but  so  quick- 
ening and  educating  duties  of  the  moot.  That  things 
are  constantly  tending  to  this  is  one  of  the  most  per- 
plexing and  threatening  features  of  our  system.  The 
assuming  of  a  city  charter  is  said  to  be  an  almost 
complete  abnegation  of  practical  democracy."  ^ 

The  government  of  cities,  says  Bryce,  is  the  one 
conspicuous  failure  in  the  United  States.^  To  what 
Their  govern-  shall  wc  tum  to  savc  oursclvcs?  is  the  ques- 
rcon8pkuou°8  tion  in  a  thousand  cities  of  America,  the 
failure.  ^^^  ^^  agouy  and  despair  being  stronger  in 

our  metropolis.  New  York,  than  anywhere  else.  The 
able  editor  lashes  the  respectable  citizen  for  his  indif- 
ference to  politics,  and  to  such  charges  are  made  replies 
like  this :  "  It  is  sheer  nonsense  to  say  to  a  modern 
New  York  merchant,  '  Take  an  interest  in  politics, 
attend  primaries,  find  men  to  accept  office,  canvass 
your  acquaintances,  and  watch  the  men  elected.'  His 
mind  must  be   occupied  from  morn  till  night  with 

1  F.  W.  Allen,  in  the  New  York  "  Nation,"  May  29,  1866. 

2  American  Commonwealth,  I,  p.  608. 


COXDITIOX  OF  THE  AMERICAX  POLITY.      301 

business ;  he  will  go  to  the  wall  else."  And  still 
another  expresses  the  thought  more  fully  :  "  There  is 
a  tendency  to  differentiation  in  modern  society.  At 
first  all  had  leisure  for  politics ;  we  were  a  nation  of 
farmers,  planters,  and  a  few  shopkeepei-s.  Our  mer- 
chants then  had  leisure.  Now,  life  is  much  more 
intense  through  steam  and  the  telegraph.  If  a  mer- 
chant attends  to  politics,  he  perils  his  success  in  busi- 
ness. If.  he  gives  time  to  it,  he  is  ruined.  It  is  the 
great  law  of  division  of  labor,  not  neglect  of  duty, 
which  has  made  politics  a  trade.  Politics  in  every 
land  is  in  the  hands  of  a  leisure  class.  Through  a 
bad  system  of  representation  we  exclude  our  best 
men :  our  leisure  class  are  the  wretches." 

In  the  past  days  of  our  race,  as  towns  have  grown 
into  cities,  exchanging  the  borough-moot  for  the 
board  meetings  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  the  peo- 
ple have  become  indifferent  to  freedom.  We  are 
now  exposed  to  the  same  danger,  and  the  danger  is 
complicated  for  us  from  the  circumstance  that  there 
has  been  poured  upon  us  a  flood  of  immigrants  of  all 
races,  who,  without  a  particle  of  discipline,  have  been 
suffered  to  lay  hold  of  our  ordered  Anglo-Saxon 
liberty. 

While  the  distressing  picture  of  municipal  misrule 
is  unrolled  before  our  eyes,  especially  in  New  York, 
but  also  in  every  largre  city  of  the  country, 

1  c    1       •  rnn         Eagerness  to 

there  is    one    hopeiul  circumstance.     The  remedy  the 

abuses. 

danger  is  fully  felt,  and   great   energy  is 
directed  to  the  discovery  and  application  of  reineches. 
In    the    extravagance,    corruption,    rapacity,    which 
threaten  to   destroy  the   social   fabric,  the  strongest 
minds  come  hurrying   with  appliances,  as  in  a  con- 


302  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

flagration,  the  vigorous  men  run  with  bucket,  axe,  and 
rope.  I  have  a  collection  of  suggestions  made  dur- 
ing recent  years.  Says  Mr.  Grace,  late  mayor  of 
New  York :  "  In  our  municipalities,  the  people  have 
never  been  permitted  actually  to  realize  the  dignity 
and  responsibility  of  self-government.  They  have 
practically  been  denied  the  right  to  that  experience, 
which  brings  with  it  the  only  political  education  that 
renders  a  people  capable  of  self-government,"  and  he 
cries  out  against  corrupt  legislative  interference  as 
the  main  source  of  evil.  Says  the  New  York  Nation^ 
"  The  evil  is  in  giving  power  into  the  hands  of  a  pen- 
niless, ignorant  proletariat;  political  power  lies  not 
in  the  hands  of  the  people,  but  the  mob.  Democracy 
hardly  exists  in  these  communities,"  and  a  plan  is 
propounded  for  securing  influence  to  property  and 
intelligence.  Says  the  International  Review,  "  The 
government  of  a  modern  city  is  analogous  to  the 
administration  of  property,  to  that,  for  instance,  of 
a  railway  or  a  bank,  and  requires  to  be  cared  for 
in  similar  ways."  ^ 

One  of  the  latest  and  certainly  the  most  authorita- 
tive voice  that  has  considered  the  matter,  is  that  of 
Hon.   Seth    Low,   president   of   Columbia 

Views  of 

Hon.  Seth  Collcgc,  and  late  mayor  of  the  large  city  of 
Brooklyn.  He  finds,  as  do  all,  a  contin- 
ually disturbing  factor  in  the  immense  tide  of  immi- 
gration, eighty  per  cent  of  the  population  of  New 
York  being  either  foreign  born  or  the  children  of 
foreign  parents.  In  the  growth  of  American  cities, 
everything  must  be  created  or  arranged  anew ;  the 
marvel  really  is  not  so  much  that  they  are  open  to 

1 IV,  p.  161. 


CONDITION  OF   THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.       303 

criticism  for  many  defects,  but  rather  that  results  so 
great  have  been  achieved  in  so  short  a  time.  Charters 
have  been  framed  as  though  cities  were  little  States. 
Americans  are  only  just  learning,  after  many  years 
of  bitter  experience,  that  they  are  not  so  much  little 
States  as  large  corporations.  To  this  mistake  have 
been  due  many  of  the  errors  in  city  management. 
The  aim  has  been  to  make  a  city  government  where 
no  officer  by  himself  should  have  power  to  do  much 
harm,  and  the  natural  result  was  to  create  a  situation 
where  no  officer  had  power  to  do  much  good.  Men 
are  coming  to  see  that  cities  are  large  corporations ; 
and  as  such,  one  man  in  them  must  be  given  the 
power  of  direction  and  the  choice  of  his  chief  assist- 
ants :  power  and  responsibility  must  go  together  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom  of  every  successful  business 
organization.  In  the  charter  granted  in  1882,  to  the 
great  city  of  Brooklyn,  then  of  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  people,  the  mayor  is  entirely  respon- 
sible for  the  conduct  of  the  city  government  on  its 
executive  side,  and  equipped  with  powers  necessary 
to  discharge  his  trust.  Mr.  Low  believes  that  the 
ideal  city  charter  should  be  founded  upon  the  theory  of 
separation  of  the  legislative  and  executive  functions ; 
that  the  board  of  aldermen  should  have  no  more 
power  of  interference  with  the  executive  than  the 
House  of  Representatives  has ;  that  the  mayor  should 
have  the  power  of  appointment  and  removal  of  execu- 
tive officers  during  the  time  for  which  he  is  responsible 
for  the  government;  that  there  should  be  constitu- 
tional restrictions  as  to  the  incurring  of  debt;  and 
that  the  power  of  the  State  legislature  to  interfere  in 
municipal  matters  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 


304  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

He  says,  hopefully  and  manfully:  "I  have  a  feel- 
ing that  our  progress,  if  slow,  is  steadily  in  the 
direction  of  betterment.  1  do  not  expect  to  see  the 
history  of  the  next  twenty  years  in  the  affairs  of  our 
cities  repeat  all  the  scandals  that  have  marked  the 
past  twenty  years.  It  is  not  strange  that  a  people 
conducting  an  experiment  for  which  there  is  abso- 
lutely no  precedent,  should  have  to  stumble  towards 
correct  and  successful  methods  through  experiences 
which  may  be  both  costly  and  distressing.  I  see  no 
other  road  towards  improvement  in  the  coming  time, 
but  I  think  it  certain  that  in  another  decade  we 
shall  look  back  on  some  of  the  scandals  of  the  pres- 
ent in  city  government  with  as  much  surprise,  as  we 
now  regard  the  effort  to  control  fires  by  a  volunteer 
fire  department,  which  was  insisted  upon  in  New 
York  until  within  twenty  years.  In  other  words,  I 
take  no  gloomy  view  of  the  situation.  I  see  nothing 
in  the  general  condition  of  affairs  which  is  absolutely 
incurable,  unless  it  be  the  unwillingness  of  the  people 
themselves  to  choose  their  local  officials  along  divis- 
ions on  local  lines.  I  confess  that  it  is  here  that 
the  problem  appears  to  me  the  most  difficult.  I  hope 
for  good  results  in  this  direction,  however,  from  the 
growth  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  civil  service  reform, 
whereby  patronage  shall  become  less  and  less  power- 
ful in  the  determination  of  election  contests ;  from 
legislation  which,  in  controlling  to  some  extent  the 
cost  and  methods  of  conducting  canvasses,  may  re- 
duce to  a  minimum  the  mischief  wrought  by  the 
improper  use  of  money.  I  do  not  expect  to  live 
long  enough  to  see  the  government  of  cities  in  Amer- 
ica anything  other  than  a  pressing  problem,  but  it  is 
a  problem  everywhere." 


COXDITIOX  OF  THE   AMERICAN  POLITY.      305 

Above  all,  Mr.  Low's  experience  has  inspired  him 
with  confidence  in,  not  with  distrust  of,  the  people. 
"  Because  there  is  scum  upon  the  surface  of  a  boil- 
ing liquid,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  material  or  the 
process  to  which  it  is  subjected  is  itself  bad.  Uni- 
vei-sal  suffrage,  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  is 
not  only  a  great  element  of  safety  in  the  present 
day  and  generation,  but  is  perhaps  the  mightiest 
educational  force  to  which  the  masses  of  men  have 
ever  been  exposed.  In  a  country  where  wealth 
has  no  hereditary  sense  of  obligation  to  its  neigh- 
bors, it  is  hard  to  conceive  what  would  be  the 
condition  of  society,  if  universal  suffrage  did  not 
compel  every  one  having  property,  to  consider,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  the  well-being  of  the  whole 
community."  ^ 

As  regards  local  self-government,  then,  there  is  no 
ground  for  hopelessness  as  to  the  future  of  America. 
In  rural  communities,  the  popular  moot.  Grounds  for  a 
adapted  to  our  new  conditions,  but  with  ^^opef"!  ^lew. 
its  administrative  efficiency  and  its  salutary  educa- 
tive power  not  lost,  persists  in  New  England,  is 
spreading  "West,  and  even  South.  With  respect  to 
cities,  while  the  embarrassments  are  great,  there  is 
no  reason  for  feeling  that  a  good  way  to  govern  them 
will  not  some  day  be  found.  A  town-meeting  plan 
is  unquestionably  quite  inadequate ;  but  whatever 
be  the  method,  why  need  we  doubt  that  it  can  safely 

1  Bryce :  American  Commonwealth,  I,  Chap.  LII  (chapter  by  Hon. 
Seth  Low),  "The  Problem  of  Municipal  Government  in  the  United 
States."  (Address  at  Cornell  University,  March  16,  1887 ;  repeated  iii 
substance  at  Johns  Hopkins  University.) 


306  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

rest  on  a  basis  of  universal  suffrage?  If  the  folk 
vote,  the  folk  will  also,  in  some  way,  moot  the 
merits  of  candidates  and  of  questions  upon  which  it 
must  pass  judgment.  If  the  primordial  cell  is  sound, 
the  body  will  not  perish. 

To  candid  foreign  eyes  we  offer  no  unpromising 
spectacle.  "Local  self-government  will  doubtless 
sometimes  go  wrong,  but  so  too  will  government 
officials.  A  few  mistakes  are  a  small  price  to  pay 
for  freedom.  Compare  France  and  America.  The 
agitation  of  France  is  aggravated,  if  not  caused,  by 
centralization.  Under  every  rSgime  Paris  has  been 
France ;  the  provinces  have  been  powerless ;  the 
best  statesmen  of  France  are  making  every  effort 
to  decentralize.  Centralization  emasculates  public 
spirit,  induces  a  careless  indifference  to  the  welfare 
of  the  community,  takes  away  the  sense  of  responsi- 
bility in  local  affairs,  tends  to  produce  a  degrading 
subserviency  to  the  powers  above,  and  is  in  every 
way  destructive  of  that  manly  feeling  of  individual 
freedom  with  combined  action  which  has  hitherto 
been  held  as  the  glory  and  boast  of  our  English 
institutions.  Compare  with  France  the  system  of 
the  United  States,  where  democratic  and  local  insti- 
tutions have  acquired  a  development  and  ascendency 
elsewhere  unknown.  No  doubt,  a  thousand  faults 
may  be  discovered.  The  Tammany  ring,  the  ini- 
quities of  the  New  York  municipality,  venality  and 
corruption  in  various  forms,  may  be  raked  up  and 
combined  to  form  a  hideous  picture.  But  turn  to 
the  other  side.  Where  is  there,  on  the  whole,  a 
more  law-abiding  people  ?  Where  is  individual  lib- 
erty more    enjoyed?     Where,  indeed,  has   the   true 


CONDITION   OF   THE   AMERICAN   POLITY.      307 

English  principle  of  local  self-government  been  de- 
veloped with  such  success  ?  "  ^ 

1  Contemporary  Review,  34,  p.  678,  etc.,  art.  "  Self-Grovernment  in 
Towns,"  by  J.  Allanson  Picton.  For  a  hopeful  view  of  the  prospects 
of  the  United  States,  and  also  of  Canada  and  Australia,  as  regards  the 
disappearance  of  political  corruption,  see  Dilke :  Problems  of  Greater 
Britain,  p.  103. 


308  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  rUTUKE  OF  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

The  progress  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  has  been 
outlined  in  these  pages  through  eighteen  hundred 
years,  from  the  Germans  of  Tacitus  to  the  present 
moment.  It  is  now  in  jAace  to  consider  what  may 
fairly  be  anticipated  for  it  in  years  to  come,  and  to 
inquire  whether  the  generation  of  English-speaking 
men  now  upon  the  stage  is  doing  what  may  reason- 
ably be  expected  of  it,  in  view  of  the  opportunities 
it  enjoj^s  and  the  responsibilities  with  which  it  is 
trusted.  Though  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  in  a  more 
or  less  partial  form  has  been  adopted  (it  would  be 
better  perhaps  to  say  imitated)  by  every  nation  in 
Europe,  but  Russia,  and  in  Asia  by'  Japan,  the  hopes 
for  that  freedom,  in  the  future,  rest  with  the  English- 
speaking  race.  By  that  race  alone  it  has  been  pre- 
served amidst  a  thousand  perils;  to  that  race  alone 
is  it  thoroughly  congenial ;  if  we  can  conceive  the 
possibility  of  the  disappearance  among  peoples  of  that 
race,  the  chance  would  be  small  for  that  freedom's 
survival.  They  are  the  Levites  to  whom,  in  especial, 
is  committed  the  guardianship  of  this  ark,  so  infinitely 
precious  to  the  world.  In  no  century  of  its  career 
has  the  band  understood  so  well  the  sacred  character 
of  its  responsibility,  and  looked  with  such  love  upon 
the  trust  it  was  appointed  to  defend. 


FUTURE   OF   ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM.       309 

One  of  the  latest  and  best  of  historians  believes  it 
possible  that  the  two  branches  of  English-speaking 
men  will  always  remain  separate  political 
existences,  —  that  the  older,  indeed,  may  the  wide 

,  ,       .  spread  of  the 

sometime   again    breax   into  two  or  more  Engiish- 

Tx  T  1  1  n     speaking  race. 

nations.  He  predicts,  however,  that  all 
will  become  one  in  spirit,  and  before  fifty  years  have 
passed,  change  the  face  of  the  Avorld.  Two  hundred 
million  of  English-speaking  men  he  beholds  with 
prophetic  glance  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
fifty  million  in  Australia,  and  a  growth  commen- 
surate in  the  other  vast  regions  which  our  far-roam- 
ing brethren  have  possessed.  Before  this  enormous 
increase,  other  peoples  are  destined  to  sink  into  the 
second  rank.  The  inevitable  issue  is  to  be  that  the 
primacy  of  the  world  will  lie  with  us.  English 
institutions,  English  speech,  English  thought,  are  to 
become  the  main  features  of  the  political,  social,  and 
intellectual  life  of  mankind.^ 

A  pamphlet  widely  circulated  during  the  past 
decade  contemplates  the  future  of  the  English-speak- 
ing race  and  their  institutions  with  still  more  enthu- 
siasm.2  In  a  hundred  years,  says  Mr.  Zincke,  the 
United  States  will  have  a  population  of  800,000,000 ; 
Canada,  64,000,000;  Australia,  48,000,000;  South 
Africa,  16,000,000;  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  70,- 
000,000 :  altogether,  in  his  estimate,  there  will  be 
1,000,000,000,  substantially  the  same  in  language,  in- 
stitutions and  ideals.  The  United  States  will  have 
overflowed  southward   and   into    the  islands  of  the 


1  J.  R.  Green :  History  of  the  English  People,  IV,  p.  270,  etc. 

2  By  Rev.  F.  Barham  Zincke,  Chaplain  to  the  Queen ;  reviewed  in 
New  York  "  Nation,"  April  5,  1883, 


310  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

Pacific.  Our  limits  will  touch  those  of  Australia  and 
New  Zealand,  which  on  their  side,  too,  will  flow  out. 
In  South  Africa,  also,  the  "  Englishry  "  will  have  won- 
derfully multiplied  and  poured  into  the  regions  lying 
northward,  which  Livingstone  and  Stanley  have  laid 
open  and  are  proving  to  be  habitable.  The  flower  of 
the  species,  therefore,  says  the  writer,  who  has  no 
mean  idea  of  our  stock,  will  have  come,  in  the  course 
of  a  century,  to  occupy  the  fairest  parts  of  the  planet. 
What  will  be  the  nature  of  the  society  which  one 
hundred  years  from  now  will  be  thus  widespread  ? 
It  will  be  fundamentally  the  same  in  manners  and 
ideas,  with  slight  differences  due  to  climate  and 
soil.  Mr.  Zincke  has  made  himself  well-known  in 
England  by  his  strenuous  opposition  to  "landlord- 
ism," and  his  able  advocacy  of  "  peasant  proprietor- 
ship." The  immense  estates,  consisting  of  many 
thousands  of  acres,  sometimes  almost  of  whole  coun- 
ties, which  exist  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
where  the  owners  are  often  absentees,  scarcely  see- 
ing their  lands  from  one  year's  end  to  another,  and 
where  the  occupants  are  merely  tenants,  at  the  will 
of  the  landlord  as  regards  rent,  and  liable  to  ejection 
at  any  time  if  he  should  see  fit  to  turn  his  pasture 
into  a  game  preserve,  or  prefer  to  have  a  great  tract 
occupied  by  farms  changed  into  a  lordly  park,  — 
these  immense  estates,  our  writer  regards  as  produc- 
ing immense  evil  for  the  population.  Let  them  be 
broken  up  into  small  holdings,  upon  each  one  of 
which  shall  live,  as  in  days  of  yore,  the  yeoman,  inde- 
pendent in  spirit,  because  he  feels  that  he  owns  the 
land  he  tills ;  patriotic,  for  he  has  a  stake  in  the 
country   that  bore   him ;   intelligent   and  energetic, 


FUTURE  OF  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM.   311 

because  in  the  exercise  of  the  thousand  rights  and 
responsibilities  which  belong  to  a  condition  of  free 
proprietorship,  the  mind  becomes  in  every  way 
stimulated  and  trained.  Let  us  have  back  again, 
urges  Mr.  Zincke,  our  old  English  yeoman ;  or,  as  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  say,  let  us  have  the  American 
farmer,  which  is  the  same  thing.  He  feels  sure  that 
this  is  the  type  which  will  come  to  prevail ;  and  in 
the  great  "  Englishry,"  the  billion  of  English-speak- 
ing men  who  a  hundred  years  from  now  are  to 
occupy  the  fairest  portions  of  the  earth,  the  American 
farmer,  in  his  idea,  will  furnish  the  type  of  the  new 
society.  There  will  be  few  savages,  no  serfs,  or 
slaves,  —  not  many  drones  or  Sybarites,  —  none  with- 
out civilization.  All  will  be  able  to  read  and  write, 
have  homes  of  their  own,  hold  enough  land  to  yield 
to  intelligent  industry  a  good  support.  They  will 
have  no  social  or  political  superiors ;  they  will 
manage  for  themselves  their  own  business,  —  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  "  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people."  Society,  legislation, 
administration  of  affairs,  will  be  to  them  a  most 
effective  means  of  education.  At  the  head  of  all, 
though  not  necessarily  in  one  nationality  with  the 
rest,  will  stand  the  United  States,  our  President  the 
foremost  man,  American  ideas  (which,  as  Horace 
Walpole  saw,  and  we  may  now  so  plainly  see,  are  the 
oldest  English  ideas),  regulating  the  whole  vast 
society.  "  The  dream  is  rather  wild,  perhaps,"  says 
the  Nation,  "but  we  doubt  if  any  one  can  read  it, 
without,  when  he  lays  it  down,  finding  it  very  hard 
to  furnish  a  good  reason  for  doubting  it." 

Without   being   over-sanguine,    we    can    entertain 


312  AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

anticipations  as  glowing  as  these.  Quite  in  the  spirit 
of  the  writer  whose  views  have  just  been  summarized, 
Mr.  Gladstone  declared  at  Paris,  September  8,  1889: 
"A  hundred  years  ago,  the  English-speaking  popu- 
lation of  America  amounted  to  3,000,000 ;  it  now 
amounts  to  60,000,000,  and  we  are  told  with  every 
appearance  of  probability,  that  in  another  hundred 
years  it  will  amount  to  600,000,000.  Under  these 
circumstances,  I  wish  to  recognize  the  right  of  Amer- 
ica to  be  considered  as  being  prospectively,  and  even 
now  to  a  certain  extent,  —  for  we  have  not  in  our 
small  islands  yet  quite  touched  40,000,000,  —  I  wish 
to  recognize  the  prospective  and  approaching  right 
of  America  to  be  the  great  organ  of  the  powerful 
English  tongue." 

Of  what  type  are  the  men  to  whom  the  dominion 
of  the  world  is  about  to  be  so  largely  committed? 
Blood  of  the  The  tongue  they  speak  is  English,  strength- 
though'en-"'^^'  ©ned  and  enriched  by  infusions  from  every 
eign'^ad^ii"''  peoplc  with  whom  they  have  ever  come  in 
'"''®"  contact.     The  freedom  in  which  they  have 

been  nursed  is  English,  though  here  and  there  in 
their  institutions  are  features  which  have  been  caught 
from  races  outside.  Can  it  also  be  said  that  the  stock 
is  still  fundamentally  English,  however  large  may 
have  been  the  inpouring  into  its  veins  of  foreign 
blood  ?  When  among  our  kin  beyond  the  sea  it  was 
urged  not  long  since  that  in  the  i)eo2)le  of  England, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  had  been  superseded,  —  that  Celt, 
Frank,  Scandinavian,  Hollander,  Huguenot,  —  the 
multitude  of  invaders  and  immigrants  through  a  thou- 
sand years,  —  had  reduced  the  j)rimitive  element  to 
insignificance,  it  was  well  replied  by  Mr.  Freeman  :  — 


FUTURE   OF   ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM.       313 

"  In  a  nation  there  commonl}^  is  a  certain  element 
which  is  more  than  an  element,  something  which  is 
its  real  kernel,  its  real  essence ;  something  ^.^^  ^^  ^^^^ 
which  attracts  and  absorbs  all  other  ele-  ™^°- 
ments,  so  that  other  elements  are  not  co-ordinate 
elements,  but  mere  infusions  into  a  whole  which  is 
already"  in  being.  ...  If  after  adopting  so  many.  .  . 
we  remain  Englishmen  none  the  less,  surely  a  new 
witness  is  brought  to  the  strength  of  the  English 
life  within  us,  —  a  life  which  can  thus  do  the  work 
of  the  alchemist,  and  change  every  foreign  element, jv^kv, 
into  its  own  English  being."  ^ 
•  A  similar  statement  might  be  made  as  regards 
America.  From  the  twenty  thousand  Englishmen  who 
between  the  years  of  1620  and  1640  came  to  New  Eng- 
land, it  is  estimated  that  one  quarter  of  the  sixty  mil- 
lions of  our  present  population  are  derived.  From  the 
English  who  settled  elsewhere  in  the  Thirteen  Colo- 
nies, an  equal,  perhaps  a  larger,  increase  has  proceeded. 
The  stranger,  indeed,  has  been  with  us  from  the 
beginning :  Frenchman  and  Spaniard  preceded  us ; 
Celt,  Swede,  Dutchman,  and  German  came  with  us 
in  the  earliest  ships.  The  overflow  of  Europe,  and 
latterly  even  of  Asia,  has  been  poured  upon  us  in  an 
inundation ;  yet  the  English  stock  remains,  —  "the  ele- 
ment which  is  more  than  an  element,  the  real  kernel, 
the  real  essence  ;  something  which  attracts  and  absorbs 
all  other  elements,  so  that  other  elements  are  not  co- 
ordinate, but  mere  infusions  into  a  whole  which  is 
already  in  being."  That  this  is  true,  the  testimony 
can  be   cited  of  witnesses  who  cannot  be  gainsaid. 

1  E.  A.  Freeman  :  Four  Oxford  Lectures,  1887,  p.  80. 


314  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Said  Matthew  Arnold  in  tlie  Nineteenth  Century^  in 
one  of  his  latest  papers :  — 

"  I  have  long  accustomed  myself  to  regard  the  people 
of  the  United  States  as  just  the  same  people  with  our- 

Matthe  selvcs,  —  as  simply  the  English  on  the  other 
Arnold.  si(Je  of   the   Atlantic.     The  ethnology  of 

that  American  diplomatist  who,  the  other  day,  assured 
a  Berlin  audience  that  the  great  admixture  of  Ger- 
man had  now  made  the  people  of  the  United  States 
as  much  German  as  English,  has  not  yet  prevailed 
with  me.  I  adhere  to  my  old  persuasion ;  the  Amer- 
icans are  English  people  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic." 

Says  another  gifted  Englishman,  R.  A.  Proctor, 
whom  also  the  world  has  lately  lost,  in  one  of  his  last 
Of  R  A  utterances :  ^  "  Most  Englishmen  and  nearly 

Proctor.  all  Americans  take  an  entirely  wrong  view 

of  the  kinship  of  the  two  races.  They  seem  to  look 
upon  it  as  something  remote,  where  in  reality  (as  sci- 
ence views  it,  and  as  common  sense  should  view  it) 
it  is  so  close  that  the  biologist  regards  it  almost  as 
identity.  They  speak  of  Britain  as  the  mother-country, 
where  in  reality  Americans  are  as  yet  but  a  commu- 
nity of  Europeans,  chiefly  Britons,  who  have  as  but 
yesterday  occupied  their  new  home  ;  they  can  no  more 
be  regarded  as  a  distinct  race  than  the  sparrows  who 
just  now  so  plague  the  American  farmer  are  to  be 
regarded  as  a  distinct  family  from  the  twitterers  in 
our  London  streets.  ...  I  might  as  reasonably  look 
upon  my  fellow-countrymen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  as  of  a  different  race,  because  I  happen  to 
have  lived  a  few  years  in  America,  as  the  American 

1  In  the  Louisville  "  Courier-Jourual,"  the  Chicago  "  Inter-Ocean, "  etc. 


FUTURE   OF   ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM.       315 

of  to-day  regard  his  cousins  in  the  old  home  as 
another  people,  because  a  short  time  ago  (yesterday 
in  race-history)  some  few  came  out  from  Britain  here, 
and  many  have  since  followed  them.  ...  I  have  had 
better  opportunities  than  most  men  of  comparing  the 
two  nations ;  and  I  profess  I  find  the  difference 
between  them  even  less  than  I  should  have  expected 
from  the  difference  in  the  conditions  under  which  the 
two  nations  have  subsisted  during  the  last  few  genera- 
tions. What  I  supposed,  in  the  incompleteness  of  my 
first  few  years'  inforaiation,  to  indicate  characteristic 
differences,  I  have  found  to  be  no  more  characteristic 
(in  the  national  sense)  than  the  differences  I  find  in 
the  ways  of  my  friends,  the  Smiths,  who  live  in  the 
country;  in  those  of  my  friends,  the  Browns,  who 
live  by  the  river-side ;  and  to  those  other  friends  of 
mine,  the  Robinsons,  who  pass  the  greater  part  of 
their  time  in  London.  ...  If  there  is  life  in  the  good 
old  English  blood  still,  it  is  good  for  America,  since 
it  is  thence  the  life  of  the  American  race  came.  If 
Americans  have  in  them  the  will  and  power  to  thrive, 
it  looks  well  for  their  English  kindred,  since  they  are 
of  the  same  blood.  Great  Britain  and  America  have 
diverse  futures  —  even  though  the  old  country  may 
be  able  to  shake  off  the  dead-weight  which  the  new 
country  left  behind  it.  But  it  is  sure  and  certain 
truth  that  mutual  insults  imply  common  faults,  while 
mutual  esteem  indicates  that  each  nation  respects 
itself  and  has  faith  in  its  own  great  future." 

Still  more  significant  than  these  declarations  are 
the  words  of  Bryce :  "  Any  one  can  see  how  severe  a 
strain  is  put  on  democratic  institutions  by  of  Jamei 
the  influx  every  year  of  half  a  million  of  ^''^"' 


316  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

untrained.  Europeans,  not  to  speak  of  those  French 
Canadians  who  now  settle  in  the  northeastern  States. 
Being  in  most  States  admitted  to  full  civic  rights 
before  they  have  come  to  shake  off  European  notions 
and  habits,  these  strangers  enjoy  political  power 
before  they  either  share  or  are  amenable  to  Ameri- 
can opinion.  Such  immigrants  are  at  first  not  merely 
a  dead-weight  in  the  ship,  but  a  weight  which  party 
managers  can,  in  city  politics,  so  shift  as  to  go  near 
upsetting  her.  They  follow  blindly  leaders  of  their 
own  race,  are  not  moved  by  discussion,  exercise  no 
judgment  of  their  own.  This  lasts  for  some  years, 
probably  for  the  rest  of  life  with  those  who  are  eld- 
erly when  they  arrive.  But  the  younger  sort,  when, 
if  they  be  foreigners,  they  have  learned  English,  — 
when,  working  among  Americans,  they  have  im- 
bibed the  sentiments  and  assimilated  the  ideas  of 
the  country,  —  are  thenceforth  scarcely  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  native  population.  They  are  more 
American  than  the  Americans  in  their  desire  to  put 
on  the  character  of  their  new  country.  The  peculiar 
gift  which  the  republic  possesses  of  quickly  dissolv- 
ing and  assimilating  the  foreign  bodies  that  are 
poured  into  her  mass,  imparting  to  them  her  own 
qualities  of  orderliness,  good. sense,  self-restraint,  a 
willingness  to  bow  to  the  will  of  the  majority,  is 
mainly  due  to  the  all-pervading  force  of  opinion, 
which  the  new-comer,  so  soon  as  he  has  formed  social 
and  business  relations  with  the  natives,  breathes  in 
daily  till  it  insensibly  transmutes  him.  Their  faith, 
and  a  sentiment  of  resentment  against  England,  keep 
up  among  the  Irish  a  body  of  separate  opinion,  which 
for  a  time  resists  the  solvent  ]3ower  of  its  American 


FUTURE   OF   AXGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM.       317 

environment.  But  the  public  schools  finish  the 
work  of  the  factory  and  the  newspapers.  The  Irish 
immigrant's  son  is  an  American  citizen  for  all  other 
purposes,  even  if  he  retain,  which  he  seldom  does, 
the  hereditary  anglophobia.^  .  .  .  Recent  immi- 
grants have  as  yet  affected  American  society  but 
little,  save  that  the  Germans  have  brought  in  a 
greater  fondness  for  music,  for  the  drama,  and  for 
out-of-door  life  in  the  cities.  I  greatly  doubt  whether 
the  influence  of  the  immigrants  will  be  much  more 
powerful  in  the  future,  so  strong  is  the  native  type 
of  thought  and  customs,  and  so  quickly  does  it  tell 
on  the  new-comers."  ^ 

Here,  finally,  is  the  testimony  of  an  elevated  and 
brilliant  mind.  The  chief  impression  of  Sir  Edwin 
Arnold,  the  poet  of  the  "Light  of  Asia"  ofSirEdwia 
and  editor  of  the  London  Telegraphy  when  ^'■°°'^- 
in  America,  was  "  of  the  absolute  practical  identity 
of  manner,  mind,  and  national  life  between  our  two 
countries."     Said  he  :  — 

"  I  have  found  myself  everywhere  in  a  transatlantic 
England.  I  do  not  say  that  in  any  foolish  idea  that 
to  be  '  quite  English '  is  a  point  of  perfection.  You 
may  just  as  well  remark  that  we  resemble  you ;  but 
there  the  fact  is  that  bygone  writers  must  have  exag- 
gerated most  absurdly  the  supposed  distinctive  Amer- 
ican traits,  or  else  that  you  have  ceased  to  exhibit 
them ;  for  I  have  asked  myself  a  hundred  times,  wan- 
dering in  your  streets  and  journeying  on  your  rail- 
ways, '  Am  I  really  in  the  New  World,  or  dreaming  of 
it  in  the  old  one  ? '  Half  an  American  as  I  am,  by 
marriage  and  by  sympathies,  I  must  confess  that  it 

1  American  Commonwealth,  II,  p.  328.  ^  zi,id.,  p.  678,  note. 


318  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

has  been  wholly  delightful  to  observe  this  unmistak- 
able and  minute  identification  of  the  races,  and  it  fills 
me  with  hope  that  whatever  other  nations  may  quar- 
rel and  come  into  armed  conflict,  America  and  Eng- 
land —  vainly  divided  by  the  ocean  —  will  by  and  by 
establish  an  international  tribunal  composed  of  the 
worthiest  and  best-trusted  men  on  either  side,  and 
will  refer  to  their  judgment  under  the  laws  of  right 
and  reason  —  without  appeal  —  every  question  which 
threatens  to  disturb  the  natural  alliance  that,  in  my 
opinion,  furnishes  the  very  best  hope  of  mankind."  ^ 
Immigrants,  says  Mr.  Bryce,  have  been  speedily 
assimilated:  so  it  has  been  throughout  our  history. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  stock  has  been  made  rich  and 
strong  by  a  score  of  crossings  with  the  most  vigorous 
and  intellectual  of  modern  races,  but  it  remains, 
nevertheless,  Anglo-Saxon.  In  1886,  at 
English-  the  great  Colonial  Exhibition  in  London, 

as  illustrated     what  cspccially  stxuck  the  American  vis- 

at  the  Colonial    .  ,        .  ,  .  .   ,     ,  .  •     •^^ 

Exhibition  of    itor  was  the  identity  with  his  own  civiliza- 

1886.  '' 

tion  of  the  civilization  represented  in  the 
products  set  forth ;  and  the  similarity  to  himself  of 
the  English-speaking  men  who  had  gathered  there, 
though  they  came  from  the  farthest  corners  of  the 
world.  Such  clotliing  we  wear;  in  such  cars  and 
coaches  we  ride ;  with  such  appliances  we,  too,  mine, 
work  the  soil,  sail  the  sea,  make  music,  and  teach 
the  young  idea  how  to  shoot;  in  the  paintings  of 
towns  at  the  antipodes,  which  sometimes  were  hung 
on  the  walls,  the  streets  looked  like  those  of  any 

1  Unlike  the  authorities  that  have  been  cited,  Sir  Charles  Dilke  finds 
the  differences  considerable  between  the  populations  of  the  United 
States  and  the  British  empire.    Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  pp.  90,  696. 


FUTURE   OF   ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM.       319 

American  town ;  the  frontiersman's  hut  in  the  remote 
clearing,  as  the  model  showed  it,  was  a  reproduction 
of  the  log-cabin  of  Dakota  or  Kansas.  If  the  Amer- 
ican fell  into  talk  with  a  group  pausing  in  an  aisle 
before  some  attractive  object,  though  one  might  be 
from  New  Zealand,  another  from  the  Falkland  Islands, 
a  third  from  Natal,  and  a  fourth  from  Athabasca,  a 
close  spiritual  and  intellectual  relationship  was  at 
once  developed.  All  had  read  to  a  large  extent  the 
same  books,  been  trained  in  the  same  religious  faith, 
disciplined  and  made  strongly  virile  by  that  priceless 
polity,  so  free  and  yet  so  carefully  ordered,  which 
had  been  inherited  from  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  or 
thoroughly  assimilated  through  contact  with  Eng- 
lishmen. 

"  Should  you  know,"  said  the  American,  "  that  my 
home  is  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  ?  " 

"  By  no  means,"  was  the  reply ;  "  you  seem  to  me 
like  my  neighbors  in  Auckland." 

And  yet  it  was  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  since 
the  ancestor  of  the  American  had  left  his  home  in 
Kent  to  go  to  the  New  World,  and  the  New  Zealander 
had  never  left  his  island  until  he  took  ship  a  month 
before  for  London.  "  You  seem  like  my  neighbors," 
also  could  say  the  man  from  Cape  Town,  from  Fort 
Garry,  from  Puget  Sound,  from  the  gold  fields  of 
Ballarat.  "  You  might  all  come  from  this  or  that 
English  county,"  said  a  Londoner  who  had  joined 
the  group ;  "  you  are  no  more  diverse  from  one 
another,  or  from  us,  than  the  man  of  Yorkshire  from 
the  man  of  Dorset,  —  the  Cumberland  shepherd  from 
the  Leicestershire  farmer."  Marvellous,  indeed,  was 
the  display  of  resources  in  the  Colonial  Exhibition ; 


320  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

profound  was  the  impression  received  of  the  vastness 
of  the  empire  of  England,  and  of  the  productiveness 
of  the  territories  scattered  so  widely  in  every  zone. 
Dots  of  islands,  of  which  one  had  scarcely  heard,  had 
each  its  nook,  filled  with  sugar-cane,  palm-leaves, 
feathers  of  the  bird-of-paradise ;  or  with  tasselled 
maize  and  the  tanned  hides  of  mighty  oxen ;  or  again 
with  sealskins,  the  tusks  of  the  walrus,  and  snow- 
shoes  bound  together  with  the  sinews  of  the  rein- 
deer, —  according  as  the  situation  of  the  islet  was 
under  a  torrid,  a  temperate,  or  an  arctic  sun.  At  the 
same  time,  in  spacious  apartments  or  far-stretching 
halls,  the  larger  dependencies  made  each  a  majestic 
showing  of  results,  when  lands  endowed  with  fertil- 
ity, stretching  under  favorable  heavens,  respond  with 
products  overflowing  in  abundance  to  the  cherishing 
of  civilized  men.  Full  of  interest,  however,  though 
the  display  of  material  wealth  was,  a  far  deejjer  inter- 
est lay  in  the  fact  that  these  men,  so  widely  sundered 
in  all  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  were  flesh  of 
one  another's  flesh,  and  bone  of  one  another's  bone, 
speaking  one  tongue,  disciplined  by  the  same  agencies, 
judging  by  the  same  standards,  aspiring  to  the  same 
ideals.  Substantially,  they  were  identical  with  one 
another,  —  identical,  too,  with  the  American,  —  all 
with  blood  enriched  by  infusion  from  scores  of  the 
choicest  races,  but  not  changed  in  frame  or  speech  or 
soul  from  the  champions  who,  under  Alfred,  or  Earl 
Simon,  or  Cromwell,  or  "Washington,  or  Lincoln, 
fought  to  sustain  Anglo-Saxon  freedom. 

Not  only  does  the  English-speaking  race  remain 
substantially  one,  but  it  has  never  been  stronger  or 
better  than  at  the  present  hour.     The  stock  that  has 


FUTURE  OF  AXGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM.       321 

colonized  so  widely,  that  rules  with  so  little  discord 
the  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  The  stock 
India,  that  fought  through  in  America  rbeuer°°hau 
those  dreadful  four  years  of  civil  war, —  ^°^' 
the  stock  which,  in  spite  of  its  rapacity  and  self-seek- 
ing, has  furnished  such  types  of  fortitude,  steadfast- 
ness, consecration  of  high  powers  to  noble  ends,  as 
Livingstone,  Stanley,  Gordon  who  died  at  Khartoum, 
John  Bright,  Abraham  Lincoln,  —  as  to  such  a  stock 
it  may  well  be  said  that  it  has  undergone  no  degen- 
eracy, even  though  we  compare  it  with  the  men  of 
'76,  the  generation  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  the  Eng- 
lishmen of  the  day  of  Elizabeth,  or  those  who  fol- 
lowed Henry  V  to  the  field  of  Agincourt. 

Whatever  strength  and  virtue  the  English-speaking 
man  of  to-day  can  summon  up,  he  undoubtedly  needs. 
No    age    has   been   without   its   loweringf 

°  ...  ,       ,         °     The  embar- 

dangers,  and  perplexities  apparently  inex-  rassmems 
tricable ;    probably   no   age   will  ever   be 
without  them.     In  the  gymnasium  of  human  experi- 
ence, such  lets  and  bars  are  the  appliances  through 
exercise  with  which  the  souls  of  men  are  to  be  made 
strong.     Our  age  has  them  to  so  full  an  extent  that 
we  feel  sometimes  we  are  likely  to  be  crushed.     Cer- 
tain embarrassments  are  common  to   us    and  to  the 
whole  civilized  world ;  as,  for  instance,  the   common 
troubles  arising  from  the  unsatisfactory  re-  ^^^sere. 
lations  between  labor  and  capital,  from  plutocracy, 
from  overgrown  corporations,  from  the  encroachments 
of  ecclesiastical  power  in  directions  quite  beyond  its 
proper  domain,  from  intemperance,  from  licentious- 
ness, from  selfishness  of  a  thousand  kinds. 

Other  occasions  for  anxiety  are  peculiar.     Canada 


322  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

asks  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  French  of  Quebec  ? 
Colonial  em-  Australia  feels  that  she  sits  beneath  the 
barrassments.  g}ia,dow  of  a  coustaut  peril  from  the  four 
hundred  million  Chinese,  who,  no  longer  cherishing 
isolation,  have  become  enterprising  and  aggressive, 
and,  if  unopposed,  are  quite  able  and  quite  willing  to 
overspread  her  lands  with  a  flood  that  would  make 
them  Mongolian  rather  than  Anglo-Saxon.  England 
is  full  of  agitation  over  the  Irish  question.  "  Let  Ire- 
Embarraes-  land  bc  Satisfied  with  her  present  relations 
land.  to  us,"  say  the  Unionists ;  "  with  an  ample 

representation  at  Westminster,  with  complete  toler- 
ance of  Catholicism,  with  every  avenue  thrown  open 
so  that  no  bar  exists  in  the  Church,  Army,  Navy,  or 
anywhere  to  prevent  an  Irishman  from  reaching  the 
highest  positions,  with  Anglicanism  disestablished 
upon  her  soil,  and  the  best  will  on  our  part  to  put  an 
end  to  all  abuses,  which  we  confess  with  shame  have 
existed  in  centuries  that  have  passed;  —  when  so 
much  has  been  done,  and  the  disposition  exists  to 
do  so  much  more,  why  cannot  Ireland  be  satisfied 
with  the  present  bond  ?  "  On  the  other  hand  arises 
the  Irish  clamor  for  practical  independence  ;  while 
radicals  of  a  less  extreme  type  exclaim :  "  Let  us 
give  Ireland  local  self-government ;  let  her  have  a 
Parliament  of  her  own  for  her  own  affairs,  and 
be  connected  with  us  by  a  tie  similar  to  that 
which  connects  a  State  with  the  Federal  Union, 
in  America.  If  it  follows  from  this  as  a  necessary 
consequence  that  Scotland  and  Wales  must  also  have 
local  independence,  and  each  its  own  legislature, 
so  let  it  be  ;  the  time  demands  a  certain  reconstruc- 
tion  of   the    British   empire.      No   important   thing 


FUTURE  OF  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM.   323 

would  be  sacrificed,  and  a  hundred  important  things 
would  be  gained,  with  the  coming  to  pass  of  Imperial 
Federation.  Let  not  only  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Wales  stand  locally  independent,  but  also  Canada, 
New  Zealand,  and  Australia ;  and  let  the  Parliament 
at  Westminster  become  a  congress  competent  to  deal 
with  imperial  questions  only,  each  matter  of  limited 
interest  being  remanded  to  the  assembly  of  the 
district  concerned  in  its  settlement."  In  such  a 
readjustment  of  the  British  polity,  say  the  Home 
Rulers,  nothing  of  moment  would  be  sacrificed ;  every 
time-honored  heirloom  of  the  constitution  might  be 
thoroughly  preserved.  The  monarchy  can  stand; 
perhaps  even  the  House  of  Lords,  though  this  is  more 
uncertain ;  nor  need  disestablishment  of  necessity 
follow.  Simply  the  empire  would  be  reconstructed 
after  a  fashion  which  would  adapt  it  to  the  present 
situation  and  to  present  ideas,  —  all  so  widely  differ- 
ent from  the  situations  and  the  ideas  of  the  times 
which  have  preceded  ours. 

America  is  no  less  beset  with  questions  of  difficulty 
peculiar  to  herself.  What  does  justice  to  the  negro 
demand,  and  how  shall  it  be  secured  to 

I  .,  ,  .  .         .  Of  America. 

mm,  while  at  the  same  time  our  institu- 
tions are  held  safe,  —  institutions  which  presuppose  as 
a  first  condition  of  their  existence  that  an  intelligent 
people  shall  administer  them?  Can  the  civil  service 
be  reformed,  and  legislatures,  State  and  Federal,  be 
redeemed  from  corruption  and  inefficiency?  What 
safeguards  can  be  thrown  about  the  public  schools, 
indispensable  cradles  of  good  citizenship,  institutions 
of  fundamental  importance,  at  no  time  in  our  history 
too  zealously  cherished,  and  at  the  present  hour  boldly 


324  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

attacked  by  the  power  which  so  often  has  been  the 
most  formidable  foe  of  freedom?  What  dikes  can 
be  erected  against  the  undesirable  foreign  flood, 
which,  pouring  in  yearly  in  volume  always  increasing 
through  the  unobstructed  sluices  of  our  seaports, 
seems  likely  so  far  to  dilute  our  blood  as  to  make  it 
unequal  to  the  task  of  sustaining  Anglo-Saxon  free- 
dom ?  Said  Lowell  once  :  "  I  remember  a  good  many 
years  ago,  M.  Guizot  asked  me  how  long  I  thought 
the  American  Republic  was  going  to  last.  Said  I, 
'  M.  Guizot,  it  will  last  just  as  long  as  the  traditions 
of  the  men  of  English  descent  who  founded  it  are 
dominant  there.'  And  he  assented.  And  that  is  my 
firm  faith."  Can  we  be  quite  sure  that  the  traditions 
of  the  men  of  English  descent  will  remain  dominant? 
Mr.  Bryce,  in  a  passage  already  quoted,  speaks  confi- 
dently of  the  vast  assimilating  power  possessed  by 
the  American  people,  and  makes  light  of  anticipation 
of  evils  to  arise  from  an  overtaxing  of  that  power. 
Perhaps  he  is  too  confident.  Who  can  help  being 
daunted  before  present  facts?  An  American  minis- 
ter to  a  foreign  court  declares  in  Berlin  without  con- 
tradiction that  the  ideas  of  Germany  have  displaced 
those  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  in  America  I  ^  A 
Philadelphia  journalist  thinks  a  trip  from  the  sea- 
board to  the  Mississippi  enough  to  disabuse  one  of 
the  idea  that  this  is  an  Anglo-Saxon  nation.^  An 
intelligent  American  citizen  of  foreign  birth  claims 
also  that  our  whole  civilization  is  at  present  German, 
rather  than  English.  "  The  republican  spirit  is 
German  rather  than  English.     The  German  peasants 

1  Matthew  Arnold's  story ;  see  p.  314. 

2  "  Philadelphia  American,"  December  8,  1888. 


FUTURE   OF   ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM.       325 

in  1525  fought  for  every  principle  that  it  was  the 
fortune  of  England  to  realize  much  later.  The 
English-Americans  may  go.  The  republic  will  last."  ^ 
Men  among  us  whose  words  have  some  weight  speak 
thus  lightly  of  a  decay  of  Anglo-Saxon  strength  in 
America.  Meantime,  the  flood  ever  rises:  through 
the  sluices  pour  currents  from  a  score  of  peoples,  the 
stream  often  noisome  through  ignorance  and  vice. 
No  fact  is  better  established  than  that  strains  of  men, 
as  of  the  lower  animals,  are  improved  by  crossing. 
To  breed  in  and  in  produces  degeneration.  New 
blood,  provided  it  comes  from  sources  not  too  remote, 
and  is  without  morbid  taint,  invigorates.  New  blood 
is  to  be  welcomed,  and  yet  it  should  not  be  infused 
to  so  large  an  extent  as  to  make  of  the  strain  a 
diiferent  thing.  Anglo-Saxon  we  ought  to  remain,  if 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom  is  to  be  maintained.  "It  is 
part. of  the  inexorable  logic  of  fact  and  nature,  that 
you  cannot  have  the  growth  of  the  living  creature, 
plant,  animal,  man,  nation,  seriously  injured  in  the 
growing  time  and  then  set  right  in  subsequent  years. 
The  stunted  tree,  the  starved  child,  the  crushed  and 
spirit-broken  nation,  bear  the  marks  of  their  injury 
to  the  end."^  As  regards  political  freedom,  every 
people  but  the  Anglo-Saxons  has  been  at  some  time 
crushed  and  become  spirit-broken.  To  Anglo-Saxons 
alone  can  our  American  freedom  be  safely  intrusted. 
Invigorate  the  stock  as  you  please  with  blood  from 
Scandinavian,  German,  Irish,  French,  Russian,  — 
from  whatever  good  source, — but  let  it  remain  Anglo- 

1  Private  letter  to  the  author,  from  a  "foreign-born  United  States 
citizen." 

2  Peter  Bayne :  Chief  Actors  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  pp.  71,  72. 


326  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

Saxon  still.  "  Our  American  Republic  will  endure 
just  as  long  as  the  traditions  of  the  men  of  English 
descent  who  founded  it  are  dominant  there,"  and  no 
longer. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  difficulties  which  beset 
civilized  men  at  the  present  day  are  extraordinarily 
Embarrass-  serious ;  iudccd,  it  is  quite  certain  that  our 
"aordinarny"  troubles  are  small  as  compared  with  those 
serious.  with  which,  in   the   past,  civilization  has 

repeatedly  been  threatened.  They  are,  however,  suf- 
ficiently serious,  and  among  civilized  men  to-day  the 
English-speaking  race  has  its  full  share  of  embarrass- 
ments. In  a  cursory  way,  some  of  these  embarrass- 
ments have  been  indicated :  it  is  no  part  of  the  purpose 
of  this  book  to  show  how  they  must  be  met.  The 
problems  of  the  time  are  abundantly  discussed.  Let 
us  only  discuss  here  the  matter  whether  our  race,  so 
numerous,  so  strong,  so  resourceful,  is  also  in  other 
respects  so  circumstanced  as  to  be  likely  to  wage  a 
winning  war.  Let  us  ask  two  questions :  1.  Does 
the  English-speaking  race  respect  and  love  the  free- 
dom which  it  has  inherited  ?  2.  Has  the  race  within 
itself  any  proper  feeling  of  brotherhood?  Do  its 
members  stand  ready  to  join  hands,  believing  that  in 
union  there  is  strength  ?  Only  if  these  questions  can 
be  answered  in  the  affirmative  can  Anglo-Saxon  free- 
dom be  certain  of  permanence. 


DO  WE  RESPECT  OUR  FREEDOM?  327 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

DO  WE  RESPECT  OUR  FREEDOM? 

First.   Do  we  respect  the  freedom  which  we  have 
inherited  ? 

On  the  30th  of  April,  1889,  the  writer,  in  a  great 
city  lying  in  the  border-land  between  North  and  South, 
watched  the  passing  of  a  vast  procession,  .pj^^  ceiebra 
Thus  the  people  had  chosen,  upon  the  cen-  go^^jgl/"^"^ 
tenary  of  the  inauguration  of  Washington 
and  of  the  going  into  operation  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, to  do  honor  to  our  chief  hero,  and  to  the 
ordered  Anglo-Saxon  freedom  which  he  fought  to 
sustain.  It  was  a  city  which  at  the  time  of  the  cele- 
bration was,  and  for  many  years  before  had  been,  a 
house  divided  against  itself.  Sharp  race-conflicts 
between  black  and  white,  bitter  religious  feuds,  dis- 
cord between  capitalist  and  laborer,  between  the 
drinker  and  prohibitionist,  between  Northerner  and 
Southerner,  —  quarrels  of  many  kinds  proceeding 
sometimes  beyond  recrimination  to  bloodshed,  —  had 
for  years  found  in  that  city  an  arena.  On  that  day; 
however,  was  presented  a  remarkable  spectacle  of  har- 
mony. Over  each  division  of  the  marching  column, 
everywhere  from  house-tops  and  windows,  waved  the 
stars  and  stripes.  A  division  of  schoolboys  followed 
a  division  of  gray-beards.  Catholic  and  Protestant 
stepped  for  once  to  the  same  music ;  so,  too,  the 
Knights  of  St.  Patrick  and  the  Society  of  St.  George ; 


328  "ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

the  negro  and  the  master  whose  authority  the  Civil 
War  had  broken ;  Bohemians  and  Hungarians  with  a 
noisome  flavor  of  anarchy  in  their  somewhat  sullen 
lines,  and  the  solid  representatives  of  the  mart  and 
of  the  bank;  Confederate  veterans  and  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  For  the  moment  all  was 
harmony;  disputes  were  hushed;  the  "plain  people" 
was  at  one  as  regarded  paying  honor  to  the  great 
instrument  upon  which  our  polity  rests,  and  the  great 
soldier  and  magistrate  who  was  its  main  establisher 
and  upholder,  —  at  one  in  respect  for  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  England,  too,  the 
"plain  people,"  however  much  reluctance  the  privi- 
The  people's  Icgcd  class  might  show,  would  be  equally 
tiIxo°r!ifee^^°'  harmouious,  if  similar  occasion  were  given  ; 
^°"''  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  regards  the 

universal  zeal  for  democratic  freedom  of  each  great 
English  dej)endency.^  Nor  is  it  the  "  plain  people  " 
alone  who  stand  strongl}^  for  democracy.  However 
it  may  be  here  and  there  eyed  askance,  and  its 
inevitable  progress  toward  supreme  power  regarded 
as  a  calamity,  it  is  not  the  sentiment  of  the  scholars 
and  thinkers  best  worth  following.  Andrew  Car- 
view  of  An-  negie,  a  generous  representative  of  caj)ital, 
^rew  arne-  g^Q^-jf^eg  a  Triumphant  Democracy  "  ;  but 
there  are  voices  better  worth  heeding  than  that  of 
the  fluent,  quick-minded  Scotch  iron-master,  that 
have  spoken  strongly,  in  well-weiglied  words,  their 
faith.     Says  J.  Toulmin  Smith,^  treating  of  the  kind 

^  See  Dilke  on  this  point,  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  p.  490. 
2  Local  Self-Governmeut  and  Centralization.    London,  J.  Chapman, 
1851,  p.  40. 


DO   WE   RESPECT   OUR  FREEDOM?  329 

of  sense  most  useful  in  state  affairs,  with  a  confidence 
which  many  will  think  excessive :  — 

"It  is  well  worthy  of  remark  that  it  is  not  the 
mass  of  the  folk  and  people  who  are  insensible  to 
sound  argument  and  reason.  This  is  a  „j 
charge  often  made  by  those  who  imagine  ™'°  smith. 
themselves  superior  to  their  neighbors.  The  truth 
is,  however,  that  the  most  really  ignorant  classes, 
and  the  most  incapable  of  comprehending  sound 
argument  and  reason,  are  often  found  to  be  those 
who  are  commonly  called  the  educated  classes.  The 
cause  of  this  is  very  simple.  What  is  now  called 
*  education,'  and  what  many  are  anxious  to  enforce 
by  a  national  system,  is  nothing  but  putting  a  certain 
artificial  mould  upon  the  mind,  which,  instead  of 
developing  its  powers,  does  but  serve  to  wrap  it  in 
prejudices  and  bind  it  to  conventionalisms.  The 
artisan  classes,  at  least  equally  called  upon  by  external 
circumstances  to  exercise  the  native  powers  of  mind, 
have  fewer  prejudices  to  block  the  way  to  the  sober 
entertainment  of  argument  and  reason.  .  .  , 

"  For  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  we  must  have,  indeed, 
educated  men,  but  it  is  not  reading  and  writing, 
science  and  arts,  that  ever  did  or  ever  can  make  the 
educated  man.  Engrossing  the  attention  with  these 
may  indeed  be  made  the  most  effective  means  O'f  pre- 
venting the  man  from  becoming  truly  educated.  Of 
this,  Prussia  offers  a  striking  example  :  "with  a  nominal 
education,  a  state  education  of  great  elaborateness, 
the  result  is,  as  it  was  intended  to  be,  a  people  incap- 
able of  dealing  with  their  own  wants  and  conditions, 
and  submitting  to  be  dealt  with  as  herds  of  animals, 
who  exist  only  for  the  behoof  of  kings.     An  observ- 


330  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

ant  and  thoughtful  writer,  speaking  of  the  Prussian 
system,  so  ignorantly  held  up  as  a  system  to  be 
adopted  in  this  country,  well  describes  that  people, 
as  being  the  most  superintended,  the  most  interfered 
with,  the  most  destitute  of  civil  freedom  and  political 
rights,  —  in  a  word,  the  most  enslaved  people  in 
Western  Europe ;  and  the  most  educated,  that  is  in 
what  is  conventionally  called  education,  —  the  drill- 
ing of  the  mind,  not  its  development.  This  testi- 
mony is  confirmed  by  all  who  thoroughly,  and  not 
merely  superficially,  have  understood  and  watched 
the  system,  and  who  have  not  been  deluded  by  mean- 
ingless statistics  of  schools."  ^ 

Shall  we  accept  this  without  qualification  ?  Forty 
years  have  passed  since  the  words  just  quoted  were 
written.  Much  history  has  been  made  by  Prussia  in 
the  intervening  time.  Under  able  leaders  she  has 
shown  herself  marvellously  powerful.  As  regards 
the  people,  however,  what  the  world  has  had  occasion 
to  notice  particularly  is  the  docility  with  which  they 
have  suffered  themselves  to  be  led.  The  initiative 
has  been  from  the  ruling  dynasty  and  its  great  ser- 
vants. The  Court  has  supplied  the  plan  of  action, 
the  brains  and  the  energy  for  carrying  it  out,  using 
the  resources  and  mighty  strength  of  an  unresisting 
people  to  secure  objects  undoubtedly  adapted  to  pro- 
mote the  well-being  of  the  people  (who  can  doubt 
the  blessing  coming  to  the  Germans  from  a  united 
Germany  ?) ;  nevertlieless,  objects  whose  value  the 
people  did  not  at  all  appreciate  till  they  were  gained, 
and  wliich  they  were  quite  incompetent  to  secure  if 
they  had  appreciated   them.     It  has  been  said  that 

1  Local  Self-Government  and  Centralization,  p.  321. 


DO   WE   RESPECT  OUR  FREEDOM?  331 

the  Germans  of  to-day  are  cheated  by  a  mere  coun- 
terfeit of  representative  institutions,  while  real 
freedom  is  far  away  from  them.  To  some  extent 
the  remark  is  true.  Though  the  German  Parliament 
debates  and  votes,  the  power  of  the  dynasty  is  very 
great,  and  not  diminishing.  Docility  is  still  the  most 
marked  characteristic  of  the  German  nation,  as  it 
was  in  the  time  some  decades  since,  when  Matthew 
Arnold  spoke  of  their  "  Corporalism,"  their  obsequi- 
ousness before  those  in  authority,  a  trait  resembling 
the  obsequiousness  of  the  subaltern  before  his  superior 
officer,  a  quality  which  Matthew  Arnold  found  marked 
in  a  man  even  so  supreme  as  Goethe.  Nowhere  at 
the  same  time  is  "  education  "  so  elaborate  and  so  all- 
embracing.  Not  a  youth  or  maiden  can  escape  the 
inevitable  drill.  That  in  a  thousand  ways  the  drill 
is  valuable,  who  will  doubt?  There  is,  however,  a 
discipline  gained  at  the  bench,  the  forge,  and  the 
counter,  —  in  the  wrestle  of  affairs,  —  more  than  all 
a  discipline  gained  in  the  perfectly  unfettered  dis- 
cussion and  action  of  a  free  people.  As  a  qualifica- 
tion for  citizenship  in  a  really  free  land,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  discipline  of  business  and  political 
activity  is  superior  to  that  of  the  schools,  —  that 
the  plain  carpenter,  blacksmith,  and  shopkeeper,  with 
wits  keen  from  their  bread-winning,  and  also  from 
the  argument  at  the  corner,  in  the  store,  —  alas  !  also 
in  the  saloon,  —  can  judge  about  a  multitude  of  public 
questions  as  well  as,  or  better  than,  the  man  trained 
in  books  only. 

This  point  is  so  interesting,  it  is  well  worth  while 
to  dwell  upon  it  more  at  length.     As  re- 
gards the  progress  of  freedom,  the  history 


332  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

of  men  well  placed  and  highly  cnltivated  is  often 
a  discreditahle  one.  Biyce  notes  the  apparent  par- 
adox, that  where  the  humbler  classes  have  differed 
from  the  higher,  they  have  often  been  proved  by  the 
event  to  have  been  right,  and  their  so-called  betters 
wrong.  Many  European  countries  have  illustrated 
this  during  the  last  fifty  years.  A  respectable  minor- 
ity of  the  educated  English,  to  be  sure,  sympathized 
with  the  national  movement  in  Italy,  but  far  more 
workingmen.  In  the  American  Civil  War,  the  Avork- 
ing  classes  stood  for  the  North ;  a  majority  of  the 
so-called  educated  for  the  South.  In  America,  abo- 
lition had  more  friends  among  the  less  educated  than 
among  the  best  educated.  The  historical  and  scien- 
tific data,  continues  the  critic,  on  which  the  solution 
of  a  difficult  ^iroblem  dejjcnds,  are  as  little  known  to 
the  wealthy  as  to  the  poor.  Ordinary  education, 
even  of  a  university,  does  not  fit  a  man  to  deal  with 
these  questions,  and  sometimes  fills  him  with  a  vain 
conceit  of  his  own  competence  which  closes  his  mind 
to  argument  and  evidence.  Nearly  all  great  political 
and  social  causes  have  fii'st  made  their  way  among 
the  middle  and  humbler  classes.  The  initiative  pro- 
ceeds from  certain  individuals,  lofty  and  piercing 
minds ;  these  are  followed  by  the  masses,  while  the 
higher  classes  frown  and  persecute.  Of  this  course 
of  things,  Christianity  is  the  most  striking  instance.^ 
Elsewhere^  Bryce  makes  reference  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  Plato,  in  wliich  "  the  nudes  and  asses  of 
democracy  are  made  to  prance  along  the  roads, 
scarcely  deigning  to  bear  their  burdens.  Tlie  passion 
for  unrestrained  license,  for  novelty,  for  variety,  is 

1  American  Commou wealth,  II,  p.  213,  etc.  ^  J^id.,  p.  614. 


DO   WE   RESPECT   OUR   FREEDOM?  338 

to  him  the  note  of  democracy."  This  view  Bryce 
compares  with  that  of  such  modern  critics  of  de- 
mocracy as  Sir  Henry  Maine,  who  apprehend  that 
monotony  and  even  obstinate  conservatism  are  the 
faults  to  which  democracy  is  liable.  Each  theory,  he 
sums  up,  is  plausible  in  the  abstract,  and  each  equally 
wide  of  the  facts ;  for  democracy  under  proper  con- 
ditions is  quite  able  to  follow  the  reasonable  mean. 

Said  Gladstone  at  Oxford  in  1878  :  "  I  trace  in  the 
education  of  Oxford  of  my  own  time  one  great 
defect.  Perhaps  it  is  my  own  fault ;  but  I  must 
admit  that  I  never  learned  at  Oxford  that  which  I 
have  learned  since ;  namely,  to  set  a  due  value  on 
the  inestimable  principle  of  human  liberty.  The 
temper  which  too  much  prevailed  in  learned  and 
academical  ranks  was  to  regard  with  jealousy  and 
fear  the  principles  of  liberty."  ^ 

And  another  able  Englishman,  Lecky,  declares  ^ 
that  the  influence  of  the  English  universities,  repre- 
senting especially,  of  course,  the  cultivated, 
has  been  almost  uniformly  hostile  to  polit- 
ical progress.  Opinions  formed  in  drawing-room  and 
study  should,  he  says,  have  contact  with  that  shrewd 
middle-class  intellect  which  judges  questions  with 
broader  sympathies  often,  and  on  higher  issues.  In 
j)olitics  the  evils  springing  from  nionoj^oly  are  some- 
times greater  than  those  springing  from  incompe- 
tence. Little  is  to  be  gained  by  placing  political 
power  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  a  small  restricted 
class,   even  where  it  is  the  most  enlightened  class. 

1  Quoted  in  London  "  Spectator,"  January  4,  1890,  article  "  Glad- 
stone's Birthday." 

2  History  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  III,  p.  233,  etc. 


334  AXGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Class  bias  often  does  more  to  distort  than  education 
to  expand  the  intellect.  Rectitude  is  by  no  means 
always  proportioned  to  intellectual  development. 
A  small  wealthy  class  will  be  much  less  quickly  and 
seriously  injured  by  misgovernment  than  the  great 
industrial  community ;  it  may,  indeed,  be  benefited 
by  a  policy  which  is  very  injurious  to  the  country  at 
large.  In  the  eighteenth  century  in  England,  a 
small  class  had  a  monopoly  of  power,  meanwhile 
shamefully  neglecting  the  education,  sanitary  con- 
dition, and  general  well-being  of  the  masses  of  the 
nation,  who  sank  far  toward  utter  ignorance  and 
lawlessness.  The  following  quotation  from  Addison's 
"  Remarks  on  Italy,"  introduced  by  Lecky,  in  the 
course  of  his  discussion,  has  much  interest :  — 

"  One  may  generally  observe  that  the  body  of  a 
people  has  juster  views  for  the  public  good,  and  pur- 
sues them  with  cfreater  upricfhtness,  than 

Of  Addison.  ^  ■,       , 

the  nobility  and  gentry,  who  have  so  many 
private  expectations  and  particular  interests  which 
hang  like  a  false  bias  upon  their  judgments,  and  may 
possibly  dispose  them  to  sacrifice  the  good  of  their 
country  to  the  advancement  of  their  own  fortunes ; 
whereas  the  gross  of  the  people  can  have  no  other 
prospect  in  changes  and  revolutions  than  of  public 
blessings,  that  are  to  diffuse  themselves  through  the 
whole  state  in  general." 

If  Englishmen  belonging  to  the  highly  favored  and 
cultivated  class  can  give  such  good  reasons  for  popu- 
lar government,  it  is  to  be  expected  certainly  that 
Americans  of  corresponding  position  should  furnish 
examples  of  writers  maintaining  emphatically  the 
same  view.     No  doubt  there  are  among  cultivated 


DO   WE   RESPECT   OUR   FREEDOM?  335 

and  well-to-do  Americans  many,  fastidious  until  they 
become  finical,  who  shrink  from  the  turmoil  of  a 
democracy,  and  would  willingly,  if  they  could,  limit 
political  power  to  those  having  "  a  stake  in  the  coun- 
try," or  standing  on  a  high  level  of  education. 
Among  the  best  and  wisest,  however,  there  is  no  dis- 
like of  the  plain  people,  and  no  desire  that  power 
should  be  anywhere  else  than  in  their  hands.  No 
American  has  come  nearer  to  being  born  and  bred  in 
the  purple  than  John  Lothrop  Motley; 
and  his  life,  after  reaching  manhood,  was 
largely  passed  at  courts,  —  St.  Petersburg,  Vienna, 
Berlin,  Dresden,  the  Hague,  and  London,  —  in  which 
he  was  always  a  prime  favorite  of  princes  and  nobles, 
and  beheld  always  the  most  favorable  side  of  the  sys- 
tems which  they  sustained.  Yet  Abraham  Lincoln 
himself  was  not  more  sturdily  democratic  than 
Motley. 

He  writes :  ^  "  I  don't  think  there  is  any  danger  of 
my  losing  my  American  feelings,  and  my  republican 
tastes.  ...  I  have  a  sincere  belief  that  a  Brobdig- 
nag  people  like  ours  is  the  most  gigantic  phenomenon 
that  traveller  or  philosopher  has  ever  seen  or  imag- 
ined, and  that  it  is  because  the  giant  is  so  big  and 
so  near  and  grows  so  fast,  and  feels  his  bigness  so 
much  more  and  more  every  day,  that  one  sees  the 
superficial  defects  of  his  complexion  and  the  warts 
on  his  nose.  ...  I  am  most  sincere  when  I  say 
that  I  should  never  wish  America  to  be  Anglici-zed 
in  the  aristocratic  sense.  ...  I  feel  too  keenly  what 
a  fearful  price  is  paid  l)y  the  English  people  in  order 
that  this  splendid  aristocracy,  with  their  parks  and 

1  To  his  wife,  Letters,  II,  p.  294. 


336  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

castles  and  shootings  and  fishings  and  fox-huntings, 
their  stately  and  unlimited  hospitality,  their  lettered 
ease  and  learned  leisure,  may  grow  fat,  ever  to  be  in 
danger  of  finding  my  judgment  corrupted  by  it." 

Again  he  writes :  ^ — 

"  For  one,  I  like  democracy.  I  don't  say  that  it  is 
pretty  or  genteel  or  jolly;  but  it  has  a  reason  for 
existing,  and  is  a  fact  in  America,  and  is  founded  on 
the  inimitable  principle  of  reason  and  justice.  Aris- 
tocracy certainly  presents  more  brilliant  social  phe- 
nomena, more  luxurious  social  enjoyments.  Such  a 
system  is  very  cheerful  for  a  few  thousand  select 
specimens  out  of  the  few  hundred  millions  of  the 
human  race.  It  has  been  my  lot  and  yours  to  see 
how  much  splendor,  how  much  intellectual  and 
physical  refinement,  how  much  enjoyment  of  the 
highest  character  has  been  created  by  the  English 
aristocracy ;  but  what  a  price  is  paid  for  it  I  Think 
of  a  human  being  working  all  day  long,  from  six  in 
the  morning  to  seven  at  night,  for  fifteen  or  twenty 
kreutzers  a  day,  in  Moravia  or  Bohemia,  Ireland  or 
Yorkshire,  for  forty  or  fifty  years,  to  die  in  the  work- 
house at  last.  This  is  the  lot  of  the  great  majority 
all  over  Europe ;  and  yet  they  are  of  the  same  flesh 
and  blood,  the  natural  equals  in  every  way  of  the 
Howards  and  Stanleys,  Esterhazys  and  Lichten- 
steins." 

More  detailed  and  emphatic  than  the  testimony  of 
the  great  historians  just  quoted  is  that  of  President 
Eliot,  of  Harvard  College,^  also  a  Boston  Brahmin 

1  To  his  eldest  dausliter,  November  2?,.  1804,  Letters,  II,  pp.  192,  193. 

2  "The  Working  of  the  American  Democracy."  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
oration  at  Cambridge,  June  28,  1888. 


DO    WE   RESPECT   OUR   FREEDOM?  337 

of    the    highest    caste    (according    to   Dr.    Holmes' 
well-known  ranking),  the  heir  of  the  care- 
ful culture  of   many  generations,  himself  EUot,  of 
carefully  trained  and  refined,  and  through 
position  and  ability  among  the  chief  of  American  edu- 
cators.   Dismissing  the  experience  which  Europe  has 
had  of  democracy  as  entitled  to  little  weight,  when  we 
are  forming  judgments,  he  declares  that  satisfactory 
evidence  concerning  the  practical  working  of  demo- 
cratic institutions  can  be  gained  only  from  the  United 
States.     Only  there,  has   "  a  well-rooted  democracy 
on  a  great  scale  ever  existed." 

"  The  first  question  I  Avish  to  deal  with  is  a  funda- 
mental one:  How  wisely,  and  by  what  process,  has 
the  American  people  made  up  its  mind  upon  public 
questions  of  supreme  difficulty  and  importance  ?  Not 
how  Avill  it,  or  how  might  it,  make  up  its  mind  ;  but 
how  has  it  made  up  its  mind.^  It  is  commonly  said 
that  the  multitude,  being  ignorant  and  untrained, 
cannot  reach  so  wise  a  conclusion  upon  questions  of 
state  as  the  cultivated  few;  that  the  wisdom  of  a 
mass  of  men  can  only  be  an  average  wisdom  at  the 
best;  and  that  democracy,  which  in  things  material 
levels  up,  in  things  intellectual  and  moral,  levels 
down.  Even  De  Tocqueville  says  that  there  is  a 
middling  standard  of  knowledge  in  a  democracy,  to 
which  some  rise  and  others  descend.  Let  us  put 
these  speculative  opinions,  which  have  so  plausible  a 
sound,  in  contrast  with  American  facts. 

"The  people  of  this  country  have  had  three  su- 
preme questions  to  settle  within  the  last  hundred 
and  thirty  years :  first,  the  question  of  independence 
of  Great  Britain  ;  secondly,  the  question  of  forming  a 


'6'6H  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

firm  federal  union ;  and  thirdly,  the  question  of  main- 
taining that  union  at  whatever  cost  of  blood  and 
treasure.  In  the  decision  of  these  questions,  four 
generations  of  men  took  active  part.  The  first  two 
questions  were  settled  by  a  population  mainly  Eng- 
lish ;  but  when  the  third  was  decided,  the  foreign 
admixture  Avas  already  considerable.  That  graver  or 
more  far-reaching  political  problems  could  be  pre- 
sented to  any  people,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine. 
Everybody  can  now  see  that  in  each  case  the  only 
wise  decision  was  arrived  at  by  the  multitude,  in 
spite  of  difficulties  and  dangers  which  many  contem- 
porary statesmen  and  publicists  of  our  own  and  other 
lands  thought  insuperable.  It  is  quite  the  fashion  to 
laud  to  the  skies  the  second  of  these  three  great 
achievements  of  the  American  democracy;  but  the 
creation  of  the  Federal  Union,  regarded  as  a  wise 
determination  of  a  multitude  of  voters,  was  certainly 
not  more  remarkable  than  the  other  two.  No  govern- 
ment, —  tyranny  or  oligarchy,  despotic  or  constitu- 
tional, —  could  possibly  have  made  wiser  decisions  or 
executed  them  more  resolutely,  as  the  event  has 
proved  in  each  of  the  three  cases  mentioned. 

"  In  all  three  of  the  great  popular  decisions  under 
consideration,  most  remarkable  discernment,  patience, 
and  resolution  were,  as  a  fact,  displayed.  If  these 
were  the  average  qualities  of  the  many,  then  the 
average  mental  and  moral  powers  of  the  multitude 
suffice  for  the  greatest  deeds ;  if  they  were  the  quali- 
ties of  the  superior  few  infused  into  the  many  by 
speech  and  press,  by  exhortation,  example,  and 
leadership,  even  then  the  assertion  that  the  operative 
opinions  of  the  unlearned  niiiss  on  questions  of  state 


DO  WE  RESPECT  OUR  FREEDOM?  339 

must  necessarily  be  foolish,  their  honesty  only  an 
ordinary  honesty,  and  their  sentiments  vulgar,  falls 
to  the  ground.  The  multitude,  it  would  seem,  either 
can  distil  essential  wisdom  from  a  seething  mass  of 
heterogeneous  evidence  and  opinion ;  or  can  be  in- 
spired, like  a  single  individual,  from  without  and 
above  itself.  If  the  practical  wisdom  of  the  multitude 
inaction  be  attributed  to  the  management  or  to  the 
influence  of  a  sagacious  few,  the  wise  result  proves 
that  these  leaders  were  well  chosen  by  some  process 
of  natural  selection,  instead  of  being  designated,  as 
in  an  oligarchy,  by  the  inheritance  of  artificial  privi- 
leges. .  . 

"  There  is  a  limited  sense  in  which  it  is  true  that  in 
the  United  States  the  average  man  predominates  ;  but 
the  political  ideas  which  have  predominated  in  the 
United  States,  and  therefore  in  the  mind  and  will  of 
the  average  man,  —  equality  before  the  law,  national 
independence,  federation,  and  indissoluble  union,  — 
are  ideas  not  of  average,  but  of  superlative  merit.  It 
is  also  true  that  the  common  school  and  the  news- 
paper echo  received  opinion,  and  harp  on  moral 
commonplaces.  But  unfortunately  there  are  many 
accepted  humane  opinions  and  ethical  commonplaces 
which  have  never  yet  been  embodied  in  national 
legislation,  —  much  less  in  international  law,  —  and 
which  may  therefore  still  be  repeated  to  some  advan- 
tage. If  that  comprehensive  commonplace,  '  Ye  are 
all  members  one  of  another,'  could  be  realized  in 
international  relations,  there  would  be  an  end  of  war 
and  industrial  isolation." 

President  Eliot  enumerates  four  forms  of  mental 
and  moral  activity,  of  the  highest  usefulness :  first, 


340  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

that  which  maintains  political  vitality  tlu'ougliout  the 
Federal  Union ;  second,  that  which  supports  unsub- 
sidized  religious  institutions ;  third,  that  which  devel- 
ops the  higher  instruction  in  the  arts  and  sciences  and 
trains  men  for  all  the  professions ;  and,  fourth,  that 
which  is  applied  to  the  service  of  corporations.  All 
these  forms  of  activity  mark  the  American  democracy. 
No  disposition  appears  in  the  masses  to  oppress  those 
better  placed.  "  After  observing  the  facts  of  a  full 
century,  one  may  say  of  the  American  democracy 
that  it  has  contracted  public  debt  with  moderation, 
paid  it  with  unexampled  promptness,  acquired  as  good 
a  public  credit  as  the  world  has  ever  known,  made 
private  property  secure,  and  shown  no  tendency  to 
attack  riches,  or  to  subsidize  property,  or  in  either 
direction  to  violate  the  fundamental  principle  of  de- 
mocracy, that  all  men  are  equal  before  the  law.  The 
significance  of  these  facts  is  prodigious.  They  mean 
that  as  regards  private  property  and  its  security,  a 
government  by  the  many  and  for  the  many  is  more  to 
be  trusted  than  any  other  form  of  government ;  and 
that  as  regards  public  indebtedness,  an  experienced 
democracy  is  more  likely  to  exhibit  just  sentiments 
and  practical  good  judgment  than  an  oligarchy  or  a 
tyranny." 

As  to  progress  and  reformation,  continues  Presi- 
dent Eliot,  combating  here  ideas  expressed  in  Sir 
Henry  Maine's  "  Popular  Government,"  nowhere  else 
is  religious  toleration  so  thoroughly  put  in  practice  as 
in  the  United  States ;  nowhere  else  has  there  been 
such  well-meant  and  persistent  effort  to  imjirove  the 
legal  status  of  women,  in  behalf  of  hospitals,  asy- 
lums, reformatories,  arid  prisons,  to  apply  legislative 


DO   WE  RESPECT  OUR  FREEDOM?  841 

remedies  to  acknowledged  abuses  and  evils.  For 
promptness  in  making  physical  forces  and  machinery 
do  the  work  of  men,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
incontestably  surpass  other  peoples.  The  notion  that 
democracy  will  hinder  religious,  political,  and  social 
reformation  and  progress,  or  restrain  commercial  and 
industrial  improvement,  is  a  chimera.  Lastly,  says 
President  Eliot,  no  other  land  has  succeeded  so  well  in 
producing  the  gentleman,  and  that  consummate  fruit 
of  society  at  its  best,  —  the  lady.  "  Since  democracy 
has  every  advantage  for  producing  in  due  season  and 
proportion  the  best  human  types,  it  is  reasonable  to 
expect  that  science  and  literature,  music  and  art,  and 
all  the  finer  graces  of  society  will  develop  and  thrive 
in  America,  as  soon  as  the  more  urgent  tasks  of  sub- 
duing a  wilderness  and  organizing  society  upon  a 
new  and  untried  plan  are  fairly  accomplished."  ^ 

Among  English-speaking  men,  then,  is  there  satis- 
faction with  the  freedom  which  they  have  inherited  ? 
At  one  end  of  the  social  scale  there  is  no  ^3^3^^!  re- 
doubt an  element  which  would,  if  it  could,  fPrlngio-°''^ 
turn  liberty  into  license,   order  into   an-  domamo^ng 
archy ;    it    is,    however,    newly    arrived,    ^'^^  """^  '°'^" 

1  In  the  "Century"  magazine  for  August,  1890,  President  Eliot  fur- 
nishes, in  an  article  called  "The  Forgotten  Millions,"  an  interesting 
supplement  to  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  address.  To  people  inclined  to  be 
hysterical  over  the  woes  and  sins  of  the  present,  an  age  which,  what- 
ever may  be  said  against  it,  is  the  best  age  which  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  this  account  of  the  simple,  honorable  life  of  a  plain  Xew  England 
town  will  afford  profitable  reading.  For,  as  Mr.  Eliot  says:  "This 
sequestered,  wholesome,  and  contented  community  affords  a  fair  type 
of  the  organization  of  basal  American  society.  Due  allowance  made 
for  difference  of  climate,  soil,  diet,  and  local  usage,  this  is  very  much 
the  way  in  which  from  thirty  to  forty  millions  of  the  American  people 
live.'' 


342  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

unassimilated,  and  we  may  confidently  look  forward 
to  its  absorption  into  the  strong  and  sound  Anglo- 
Saxon  environment.  Again,  among  the  Avell-placed, 
as  regards  means,  position,  and  high  education,  both 
in  England  and  America,  are  undoubtedly  some 
who  dread  democracy,  and  who  would,  if  they  could, 
strengthen  the  hold  upon  the  world  of  narrowing 
institutions  which  we  are  fast  forsaking.  The  great 
public  heart,  however,  whether  we  study  its  pulses 
among  the  masses  or  among  those  who  by  ability, 
culture,  and  place,  are  the  leaders  of  the  world,  clings 
with  love  to  our  forms,  upholds  them  with  enthusi- 
asm, and  anticipates  their  full  triumph  with  the 
highest  hope. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKIXG   FRATERNITY.  343 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  FRATERNITY  OF  ENGLISH-SPEAKING  MEN. 

Finally,  the  question  is  to  be  answered  whether 
in  the   Anglo-Saxon  world  there  is  any  disposition 
toward  proper  brotherhood.      Among  the  The  idea  of 
English-speaking  races,  thoughtful  minds  |axtn  br°oth- 
now   and   then    express    the   idea   that   a  ^'^^°'^'^- 
closer  coming  together  of  the  various  Anglo-Saxon 
bodies,  isolated  and  scattered  about  the  world,  is  a 
thing  to  be  desired.     In  the  British  empire,  in  which 
it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  great  dependencies  are 
connected  with   the   mother-land   by   links  scarcely 
appreciable.  Imperial  Federation  has  grown  to  be  a 
popular  notion.     The  dream  is  entertained  that  all 
may  become  England,  —  that  the  distinc- 
tion between  mother-land  and  dependency  setTeyy'^' 
having    been   quite    done   away,   a   great 
world- Venice    may    come    into    existence,    through 
which  indeed  the  seas  shall  flow,  —  to  unite,  however, 
not  to  divide ;  because  the  seas  are  to  be  the  easy 
highways  through  which  fellow-citizens  may  speedily 
move  in  their  intercourse  with  one  another.^     A  still 
broader  incorporation  into  a  compact  whole  than  even 
this  has  been  thought  of,  and  the  idea  expressed  by 
men    whom,    in    their    respective    communities,    all 
revere. 

^  J.  R.  Seeley :  The  Expansion  of  England. 


344  ANGLO-SAXOX  FREEDOM. 

John  Bright  wrote  in  1887  to  the  Committee  for 
the  Celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  the  American 
Of  John  Constitution:    "As   you   advance   in   the 

Bright.  second  century  of  your  national  life,  may 

we  not  ask  that  our  two  nations  may  become  one 
people  ? "  Sir  Henry  Parkes,  one  of  the  foremost 
Of  Sir  Henry  Statesmen  of  Australia,  addressing  the 
^r'^^^Ne^*'""  legislature  of  New  South  Wales,  November 
South  Wales.  25,  1887,  Said  still  more  definitely:  "I 
firmly  believe  it  is  within  the  range  of  human  proba- 
bility that  the  great  groups  of  free  communities  con- 
nected with  England,  will,  in  separate  federations, 
be  united  to  the  mother-country;  .  .  .  and  I  also 
believe  that  in  all  reasonable  probability,  by  some 
less  distinct  bond,  even  the  United  States  of  America 
will  be  connected  with  this  great  English-speaking 
congeries  of  free  governments.  I  believe  the  circum- 
stances of  the  world  will  develop  some  such  new  com- 
plex nationality  as  this,  in  which  each  of  the  parts  will 
be  free  and  independent  while  united  in  one  grand 
whole,  which  will  civilize  the  globe."  Mr.  Goldwin 
Of  Goldwin  Smith,^  though  believing  a  political  union 
™'   ■  in  the  highest  degree   unlikely,  says :  "  I 

prize  and  cherish  as  of  inestimable  value  to  us,  all 
the  moral  union  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  I  do  not 
see  why  there  should  not,  in  the  course  of  time, 
be  an  Anglo-Saxon  franchise,  including  the  United 
States." 

Sir  George  Grey,  at  different  times  governor  of  an 
Australian  colony,  of  New  Zealand,  and  of  South 
Of  Sir  George  Africa,  oue  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
^"^*  men  who  have  developed  for  England  her 

1  "Macmillan's  Magazine,"  August,  1888. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKIXG   FRATERNITY.  345 

great  possessions  in  the  South  Pacific,  contemplates 
an  eventual,  though  perhaps  far-off  league,  between 
members  of  the  English-speaking  race,^  in  which  the 
United  States  will  be  not  only  included,  but,  dis- 
placing England,  will  become  the  leader. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Firth,  a  citizen  of  New  Zealand,  who  has 
travelled  in  America,  sees  "promise  of  a  coming 
brotherhood,  which,  if  wisely  fostered,  will 

'^  OfJ.C.  Firth. 

inevitably  bind  together  the  English-speak- 
ing race  all  over  the  world  for  mutual  help,  for 
mutual  blessing.  .  .  .  Not  until,  in  the  near  or 
distant  future,  the  Americans  take  a  commanding 
position  in  the  coming  confederation  of  the  English- 
speaking  race,  can  they  claim  to  wear  the  proud 
motto,  ''per  mare  per  terram.''  Not  till  then  will 
they  hold  their  proper  place  by  sea  and  land.  .  .  . 
What  are  all  difficulties  before  the  mighty  force  ex- 
isting in  common  laws,  common  literature,  religion, 
love  of  freedom,  common  home  life,  —  above  all,  a 
common  language  !  It  needs  but  a  conviction  and 
establishment  of  a  community  of  interest  to  enable 
the  mighty  forces  I  have  described,  to  work  out  in 
some  coming  time  the  confederation  of  the  English- 
speaking  race  all  over  the  world.  .  .  .  Should  such 
a  confederation  ever  be  established,  and  I  venture 
to  think  the  possession  of  a  common  language  will 
ultimately  secure  it,  one  of  the  greatest  safeguards 
for  the  peace  of  the  world,  for  the  welfare  of  our 
common  humanity,  will  have  been  obtained."  ^ 

The  Westminster  Review,  January,  1889,  in  an 
article  entitled  "  Federation  vs.  War,"  expresses 
itself  as  follows :    "It  has  been  computed  that,  in- 

1  Froude:  Oceana,  p.  312.  2  Our  Kin  across  the  Sea,  1888. 


346  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

eluding  the  population  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  some  hundred  and  five  millions  of  people 

speak  the  English  language,  and  belong 
minster  lie-      generally  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.     Now, 

supposing  that  England  and  the  colonies 
united  in  forming  an  Imperial  Parliament,  to  which 
delegates  might  be  sent  from  each  of  our  dependen- 
cies ;  and  suppose  the  Parliament  had  for  its  func- 
tion the  consideration  of  imperial  interests,  leaving 
colonial  matters  to  local  legislation,  it  is  manifest 
that  the  bond  of  union  between  the  mother-country 
and  her  dependencies  would  be  drawn  much  closer 
than  at  present,  and  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  all. 
In  this  assembly,  Canada,  Australia,  the  South 
African  Colonies,  New  Zealand,  and  the  West  Indian 
Islands  would  be  represented,  questions  of  general 
utility  would  be  freely  ventilated  and  fairly  dis- 
cussed, reciprocal  trade  regulations  would  be  estab- 
lished on  a  satisfactory  basis,  and  projects  for  mutual 
defence  in  case  of  war  Avould  be  arranged.  At 
present,  the  British  empire  possesses  the  most  ex- 
tensive territory  and  the  largest  population,  together 
with  the  greatest  amount  of  wealth  and  commerce, 
owned  by  any  nation  in  ancient  or  modern  times. 
"We  monopolize  one-third  of  the  world's  trade ;  more 
than  one-fifth  of  the  Avorld's  population  is  ruled  over 
by  the  Queen  of  England  ;  our  flag  waves  over  one- 
eighth  of  the  habitable  glol)e.  In  time,  and  pos- 
sibly not  a  very  long  time  hence,  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  numbering  at  present  more  than  sixty 
millions,  may  form  a  part  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  Con- 
federation, which  would  then  be,  unquestionably, 
the  strongest  in  the  Avorld,  and  which  would  unite 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING   FRATERNITY.  347 

the  great  Anglo-Saxon  family  by  the  strongest  ties 
of  any,  —  those  of  self-interest.  Thus,  were  the 
union  we  have  alluded  to  formed  by  England,  her 
colonies,  her  Asiatic  dependencies,  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  important  fact  would  be  estab- 
lished that  about  one-fourth  of  the  human  race  would 
have  agreed  to  settle  their  disputes  by  arbitration 
instead  of  by  the  inhuman  and  costly  process  of 
war.  The  question  now  arises,  How  would  the  other 
powers  of  Europe  profit  by  this  example  ?  When 
we  consider  that  the  weaker  nations  have  every- 
thing to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain  by  war,  yet  that 
they  are  obliged  to  retain,  at  the  cost  of  heavy  taxa- 
tion, considerable  military  forces  to  resist  possible 
aggression,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  would 
be  likely  to  join  in  a  confederation  which,  to  the 
extent  of  their  relations  with  it,  would  assure  them 
of  immunity  from  disturbance ;  and  therefore  we 
may  suppose  that  one  by  one  the  weaker  nations  will 
join  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  Union.  It  would  then 
remain  for  four  or  five  of  the  principal  governments 
of  Europe  to  consider  whether  they  would  keep  up 
enormous  armies  at  ruinous  taxations,  with  the  result 
of  augmenting  public  debt  and  increasing  the  dis- 
content of  their  subjects,  or  whether  they  would 
agree  to  a  system  which  would  enable  them  to  dis- 
band their  armies,  lessen  taxation,  reduce  debt,  and 
banish  discontent.  It  would  certainly  be  a  question 
for  autocrats  to  consider,  but  not  for  them  only. 
The  subjects  of  the  great  powers  would  also  express 
their  opinion,  and  there  is  little  doubt  as  to  the 
form  that  opinion  would  take :  for,  judging  by 
the  present  strong  tendency  of   European   thought, 


348  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

the  question  will  in  some  way  solve  itself  at  no 
distant  period." 

Such  a  citation  of  opinions,  though  long,  cannot 
be  uninteresting.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  voices 
from  the  British  dependencies  are  especially  strong 
in  favor  of  an  English-speaking  bond,  and  especially 
Of  the  yew   cordial  toward  America.^     A  conviction   is 

Zealand  Her-  .  ^  ^  .^ 

aid.  growing,  says  the  Ivew  Zealand  Herald,  of 

Auckland,  "that  one  great  destiny  awaits  all  the 
branches  of  the  English-speaking  race,  and  that  in 
working  out  that  destiny  the  Americans  and  the  col- 
onists will  take  a  by  no  means  secondary  part.  The 
brotherhood  which  will  ultimately  lead  to  the  rec- 
ognition of  this  unity  of  mission  is  now  undergoing 
a  steady  development." 

The  idea  of  some  reconstitution  of  the  family  bond 
has  found  expression  more  often  from  citizens  of 
Indifference  ^^^  British  empire  than  from  Americans, 
of  Americans,  though  men  are  not  wanting  in  Amer- 
ica, in  whose  minds  has  arisen  the  conception  of  a 
doing  away  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  schism  as  a  thing 
possible  and  to  be  wished  for.  The  prevailing 
mood  among  us,  however,  is  that  of  self-sufficiency. 
Absorbed  with  problems  and  interests  that  seem 
nearer,  we  let   the   broad  thought  go. 

If,  however,  the  reader  has  followed  with  any  sym- 
pathy and  attention  the  story  told  in  this  book,  he 
Reasons  in  wiU  be  prepared  to  see  that  if  we  form  a 
vating°frater-  liuk  anywhcrc,  our  proper  affiliation  is 
among  Ene-  With  England,  and  her  children  scattered 
landsf^*  '"^    east  and  west.     There  are,  indeed,  to-day, 

^  For  further  evidence  of  the  cordial  feeling  of  Australia  for  America,  see 
"  ProblcmB  of  Greater  Britain,"  p.  a'^8.  See  also  an  article  by  R.  H.  Bakewell, 
of  2sew  Zealand,  "  The  Loyalty  of  the  Colonies,"  in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century  " 
for  August,  1890. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING   FRATERNITY.  349 

as  there  were  in  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution, 
two  Englands  and  two  Americas.  Of  one  England, 
Lord  Dundreary  is  the  type ;  as  of  one  America, 
the  appropriate  type  is  the  tuft-hunting  daughter  of 
the  plutocrat,  who  will  sell  soul  and  body  to  get 
Lord  Dundreary  for  a  husband.  There  is  besides, 
the  stalwart,  manful  England  for  which  stand  Glad- 
stone, John  Bright,  and  James  Bryce  ;  as  there  are  in 
America  the  excellent  "plain  people,"  whom  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  loved  and  trusted.  While  Miss  Moth 
flies  at  her  aristocratic  luminary,  careless  of  the  singe- 
ing she  may  receive,  why  should  not  the  nobler  Eng- 
land and  the  nobler  America  clasp  hands  ?  The 
English  admit  and  have  repented  humbly  of  the  folly 
and  injustice  by  which  we  were  driven  to  leave  them. 
Says  Thackeray :  ^  "  The  foolish  exactions,  ^  ^^^^  j^^^_ 
petty  ignominies,  and  the  habitual  inso-  and**make''^od 
lence  of  Englishmen  toward  all  foreigners,  p**'  mistakes. 
all  colonists,  all  folk  who  dare  to  think  their  rivers  as 
good  as  English  rivers ;  the  natural  spirit  of  men 
outraged  by  our  injurious  domineering  spirit,  set 
Britain  and  our  American  colonies  to  quarrel ;  and 
the  astonishing  blunders  of  the  system  adopted  in 
England,  brought  the  quarrel  to  an  issue  which  I,  for 
one,  am  not  going  to  deplore.  In  less  than  seven 
years  after  Wolfe's  victory,  the  ignorant  t3rranny  of 
England  over  her  American  colonies  provoked  the 
great  struggle  which  terminated  fifteen  years  later 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence."  Such  acknowl- 
edgments of  mistakes  are  most  freely  made ;  the  dis- 
position is  most  earnest  to  make  the  mistakes  good. 
The  sound  English  heart  goes  out  to  those  who,  in 

1  In  "  The  Virginians." 


350  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

Gladstone's  words  are  "our  kin  beyond  the  sea." 
Wrote  a  poet  at  a  time  when  the  two  nations  seemed 
drifting  toward  war :  — 

"  Men  say,  Columbia,  we  shall  hear  thy  guns : 
But  in  what  tongue  shall  be  thy  battle-cry  ? 
Not  that  our  sires  did  love  in  days  gone  by, 
When  all  the  Pilgrim  sires  were  little  sons 
In  merry  homes  of  England  !     Back  and  see 
Thy  satchelled  ancestor  !     Behold,  he  runs 
To  mine,  and,  clasped,  they  tread  the  equal  lea 
To  the  same  village-school,  where  side  by  side 
They  spell  '  Our  Father ' !     Hard  by,  the  twin  pride 
Of  that  gray  hall  whos6  ancient  oriel  gleams 
Through  yon  baronial  pines,  with  looks  of  light, 
Our  sister- mothers  sit  beneath  one  tree. 

Nor  force,  nor  fraud  shall  hinder  us  !  Oh,  ye 
Who,  north  or  south,  on  east  or  western  land, 
Native  to  noble  sounds,  say  truth  for  truth. 
Freedom  for  freedom,  love  for  love,  and  God 
For  God,  —  oh,  ye  who  in  eternal  youth 
Speak  with  a  living  and  creative  flood 
The  universal  English,  and  do  stand 
Its  breathing  book,  —  live  worthy  of  that  grand 
Heroic  utterance  !  —  parted,  yet  a  whole. 
Far,  yet  unsevered,  —  children  brave  and  free 
Of  the  great  mother-tongue  :  and  ye  shall  be 
Lords  of  an  empire  wide  as  Shakspere's  soul, 
Sublime  as  Milton's  immemorial  theme, 
And  rich  as  Chaucer's  speech  and  fair  as  Shakspere's 
dream ! "  ^ 

The  notion  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  brotherhood  ought 
to  have  some  interest  for  Americans.  The  sugges- 
sir  Edwin  ^^o"  o^  ^i^"  Edwiu  Amold,  made  to  Presi- 
forTnlntJ'rna.  (lent  Havrison,  was  that  there  should  be 
tionai  council.  ^^   international   council   to  arbitrate  all 

1  Sidney  Dobell:  Sonnets. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING  FRATERNITY.  351 

matters  in  dispute,  from  whose  decisions  there 
should  be  no  appeal.  Such  a  scheme  would  be  in 
itself  a  loose  kind  of  federation;  and  as  far  as  a 
formal  bond  is  concerned,  without  doubt  it  would 
be  all  that  is  expedient.  As  to  a  union,  only  one 
purely  moral  is  possible  or  desirable.  For  some 
such  clasping  of  hands,  the  world  is  certainly 
ripe.  Through  steam  and  electricity,  time  and  space 
are  annihilated.  The "  seas  no  longer  divide,  but 
unite.  Should  the  will  for  such  fraternity  be  felt, 
there  is  no  power  of  nature  or  man  which  could 
interfere  to  prevent.  Had  we  but  the  will!  We 
nurse  too  carefully  old  prejudices  ;  we  remember  too 
long  ancient  injuries.  We  train  our  children,  as  we 
were  trained  ourselves,  to  execrate  all  things  British, 
to  think  only  of  England's  tyranny.  Do  we  not 
know  that  more  than  half  of  England  were,  in  the 
Revolution,  really  on  our  side,  regarding  our  cause 
as  their  own,  —  and  that  the  descendants  of  the  great 
masses  who  felt  with  us,  prayed  for  us,  and  rejoiced 
in  our  success,  now  hold  England  in  their  own 
hands  ?  ^ 

We  have  been  so  over-hospitable  in  receiving  all 
comers  that  we  are  in  some   danger   of  losing   our 
character  as  an  Anglo-Saxon  land.     The  i^ecessityof 
Thirteen  Colonies  were  a  fairly  homogene-  fbTnltoprt- 
ous  body,  with  Celtic  and  Teutonic  admix-  saxo^tl-adi. 
tures  too  small  to  affect   appreciably  the   bec°o*m[n™ 
mass   about   them.      With   independence,  °^^°"''^'^- 
through  wide-open  doors,  America  became  "  the  asy- 
lum for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations."     With  what 
result?     Twenty-four  million  of  our  population  are 

1  See  Chaps.  XIV  and  XVI. 


352  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

descended  from  immigrants  since  1790,  while  twenty- 
eight  million  are  from  the  founders  of  the  land.  One 
in  every  six  among  us  is  of  foreign  birth,  while  one 
in  every  three  has  both  parents  of  foreign  birth.  To 
such  an  extent  are  we  overswept,  stunned  on  the  one 
hand  by  the  Irish  cry,  weighted  in  another  direction 
by  inert  millions  just  released  from  slavery,  threat- 
ened in  still  another  by  an  Asiatic  flood,  j^enetrated 
through  and  through  with  a  Teutonic  and  Scandi- 
navian inundation  which,  welcome  though  it  is  and 
closely  allied  though  it  is,  cannot  undertake  our 
free  life  without  a  process  of  assimilation,  —  to  such 
an  extent  is  America  overswept  that  it  is  natural 
for  thoughtful  men  of  the  original  stock  to  feel 
somewliat  insecure,  and  to  ask  whether  it  may  not 
some  day  be  desiral)le  and  feasible  to  brace  them- 
selves against  a  flood  which  may  possibly  carry  us 
quite  away  from  our  ancient  moorings.  Our  system 
of  public  education,  never  too  efficient,  is  in  some 
quarters  threatened  with  extinction.  Tliere  are  mil- 
lions among  us  into  whose  minds  our  great  traditions 
have  never  entered,  or  have  entered  only  to  be 
mocked  at ;  while  in  the  case  of  those  of  us  who  are 
of  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  these  traditions  tend  to  become 
obscured  and  weakened.  Precisely  here  may  be  found 
an  important  reason  for  a  brotherly  drawing  toward 
those  who,  in  spite  of  superficial  differences,  are  yet 
substantially  one  witli  ourselves.  As  in  a  battle-line 
the  electric  touch  of  a  comrade's  elbow,  when  a  rank 
dresses  up  before  a  row  of  hostile,  levelled  rifles,  has 
often  given  new  heart  to  a  dispirited,  failing  soldier, 
reviving  as  by  an  electric  current  esprit  de  corps^ 
patriotism,  the  fading  recollection  of   a  great  cause 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING   FRATERNITY.  85B 

for  which  arms  have  been  assumed ;  so  the  touch  of 
the  great  comrade  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  will  bring  to 
vivid  consciousness  in  all  the  thought  of  the  impor- 
tant things  held  in  common,  and  a  new  appreciation 
of  their  value. 

Every  Anglo-Saxon  should  hold  the  leadership  of 
his  race  to  be  something  with  which  is  bound  up  the 
welfare  of  the  world.  •'  It  is  not  the  result 
of  accident  merely,  or  of  good  fortune,  the  world 
manitestly,  that  the  Ji^nglish  race  has  been  saxon  leader- 
the  only  race  outside  of  quiet,  cloistered 
Switzerland,  —  the  only  race  standing  forward  amidst 
fierce  contests  of  national  rivalries,  —  that  has  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  and  maintaining  the  most  lib- 
eral forms  of  government.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a 
perfectly  natural  outcome  of  organic  development. 
The  English  alone  have  approached  popular  institu- 
tions through  habit.  All  other  races  have  rushed 
prematurely  into  them  through  mere  impatience  with 
habit,  —  have  adopted  democracy  instead  of  cultiva- 
ting it."  1 

The  French  have  possessed  political  freedom  only 
since  their  Revolution  ;  at  the  present  moment,  after 
a  century  of  instability,  living  under  a  constitution 
strange  to  them,  derived  from  that  of  Anglo-Saxon 
states,  and  which  may  fall  to  pieces  at  any  hour.  The 
Germans  have  possessed  no  proper  political  freedom 
since  the  days  of  the  migration  of  the  nations,  and 
are  so  involved  in  perils  from  neighbors  east  and 
west  that  they  dare  not  give  up  for  it  the  government 
of  a  strong  autocrat.  Russia  presents  a  picture  of 
despotism  from  which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  hope 

1  Woodrow  Wilson  in  "  Polit.  Sci.  Quar.,"  March,  1889,  p.  169. 


354  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

that  her  people  can  ever  be  freed.  How  plain  that 
the  hopes  of  a  well-ordered  liberty  in  the  world  are 
bound  up  with  the  English-speaking  race  !  What- 
ever enthusiasm  for  it  individuals  or  classes  may  show, 
among  Frenchmen,  Germans,  or  Russians,  the  historic 
discipline  of  those  stocks  has  not  been  such  as  to 
prepare  them  to  maintain  it.  These  nations  have  all, 
at  one  time  or  another,  been  crushed  and  spirit-broken. 
The  Anglo-Saxon,  on  the  other  hand,  has  preserved  for 
two  thousand  years  the  connected  tradition  of  ordered 
constitutional  freedom.  It  is  flesh  of  his  flesh  and  bone 
of  his  bone.  The  strength  of  the  stock  —  perhaps 
it  would  be  more  just  to  say  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  its  position  —  have  caused  that  it  alone, 
among  the  great  races  of  the  modern  world,  has  pre- 
served the  primeval  liberty  which  at  the  outset  was 
the  possession  of  them  all.  That  liberty  is  for  human 
welfare  the  most  precious  of  possessions,  is  a  prop- 
osition which  surely  need  not  be  argued.  Scarcely 
less  obvious  is  the  proposition  that  the  maintenance 
of  ordered  liberty  in  the  world  is  bound  up  with  the 
leadership  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Is  this  leadership  in 
any  way  imperilled  ? 

It  is  no  doubt  a  far-away  danger  which  threatens 
Anglo-Saxondom  from  any  foreign  power  whatever. 
Possible  perils  t)ut  it  is  uot  foolish  to  take  thought  for 
from  China,  -^yhat  may  possibly  sometime  come  about. 
Suppose  the  four  hundred  million  of  China  should 
come  forth  to  battle  for  dominion.  The  Chinese  have 
of  late  grown  enterprising  and  shown  a  disposition 
to  forsake  their  home.  Tliey  thrust  themselves  un- 
comfortably upon  Americans,  and  still  more  uncom- 
fortably upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  nearer  to  them,  in 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING   FRATERNITY.  355 

the  South  Pacific.  Says  Sir  Henry  Parkes:  "The 
Chinese  are  a  superior  set  of  people,  belonging  to  a 
nation  of  an  old  and  deep-rooted  civilization.  .  .  . 
It  is  because  I  believe  the  Chinese  to  be  a  powerful 
race,  capable  of  taking  a  great  hold  upon  the  country, 
and  because  I  wish  to  preserve  the  type  of  my  own 
nation  in  these  fair  countries,  that  I  am  and  always 
have  been  opposed  to  the  influx  of  Chinese."^  Un- 
questionably the  Chinese  have  been  badly  treated. 
English  and  Americans  deserve  to  suffer,  but  for  the 
sake  of  civilization,  the  suffering  ought  not  to  go 
too  far.  As  we  plainly  see,  at  last,  the  Chinese  are 
quite  capable  of  showing  resentment ;  and  we  can  be 
certain  that  with  their  vast  numbers  and  in  many 
ways  advanced  civilization,  they  are  quite  capable 
of  becoming  formidable  opponents.  Mr.  Firth,  of 
New  Zealand,  says :  "  The  Chinese  difficulty  is  a 
direct  consequence  of  the  folly  or  avarice  of  our 
rulers,  both  in  the  British  empire  and  the  United 
States.  ...  In  the  interests  of  English  and  Ameri- 
can commerce,  the  Chinese  emperor  was  compelled, 
by  the  logic  of  canon  law,  to  admit  foreigners  to 
reside  and  trade  in  certain  Chinese  ports,  similar 
treaty  rights  being  granted  to  Chinese  people  to  re- 
side, trade,  and  work  in  the  United  States  and  in  the 
British  dominions."  Mr.  Firth  goes  on  to  say  :  "  No 
one  had  any  idea  that  the  Chinese,  conservative  and 
exclusive  as  they  have  always  been,  would  ever  avail 
themselves  of  this  right.  How  great  was  the  mis- 
take !  A  vast  emigration  at  once  set  in  to  Australia 
and  California,  until  there  has  been  danger  that  large 
portions  of   the  United  States  and  Australia  might 

1  Dilke:  Problems  of  Great  Britain,  p.  529. 


356  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

be  overrun.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  the 
Chinese  outnumber  the  Europeans  and  Americans, 
their  bearing  has  become  changed ;  they  are  no  longer 
inoffensive  and  obedient.  There  is  a  possibility  that 
the  characteristics  of  Chinatown,  in  San  Francisco, 
may  appear  on  a  scale  vastly  enlarged  in  a  hundred 
cities,  —  that  Anglo-Saxon  lands,  indeed,  may  be- 
come little  better  than  Chinese  colonies."  So  writes 
this  spokesman  of  the  English-speaking  world  of  the 
South  Pacific,  and  advises  that  England  and  America 
limit  the  annual  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the 
United  States  and  Australia  to  the  numbers  of  Eng- 
lish and  Americans  entering  China  as  residents,  —  a 
course  which  would  settle  the  present  difficulty  with- 
out abrogating  the  treaty  .^ 

But  suppose  that  China,  following  her  new  inspira- 
tions, should  refuse  to  be  limited  ?  It  is  conceivable 
that  the  bland  Asiatic,  sensible  at  last  of  his  injuries, 
may  try  to  punish,  perhaps  to  overwhelm.  An  out- 
flow from  the  flowery  kingdom  is  conceivable  which 
would  make  prudent  an  Anglo-Saxon  union.  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zealand  confront  a  danger  close  at 
hand,  with  which  to  cope  unassisted  may  become  a 
task  quite  beyond  their  power.  They  may  need  be- 
hind them  more  even  than  the  power  of  England, 
tied  as  the  hands  of  England  are  liable  to  be  through 
European  complications  that  may  any  day  arise. 
"  Blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  said  the  American 
naval  captain  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pei-ho,  thirty  years 
ago,  when  an  English  squadron  was  in  difficulties 
with  the  Chinese  forts ;  and  he  carried  his  ships 
to  their  assistance.      The  course  of  the  captain  was 

1  Our  Kin  across  the  Sea,  p.  181,  etc. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING  FRATERNITY.  357 

sustained  at  home.  Blood  should  be  held  to  be 
thicker  than  water  in  such  a  crisis  as  has  been  de- 
scribed. Our  course  toward  Asia  has  been  full  of  sel- 
fish blundering.  The  Anglo-Saxon  deserves  to  suf- 
fer ;  he  does  not,  however,  deserve  to  be  permanently- 
crippled.  Could  the  greatest  of  English-speaking 
lands  look  on  unmoved  while  a  Mongolian  dominion 
was  established  in  the  South  Pacific  over  Anglo- 
Saxon  ruins?  Such  a  danger  is  not  probable,  but 
only  possible.  Let  us  pass,  however,  to  the  consid- 
eration of  a  peril  similar  in  kind,  which  is  more  liable 
to  be  sometime  imminent. 

Gladstone  remarked  not  long  since  that  the  vital 
forces  of  Europe  are  becoming  exhausted ;  that 
the  bone  and  sinew  have  gone  to  America,  Asia, 
Africa,  or  Australia ;  that  only  two  nations  know 
how  to  colonize  —  England  and  Russia ;  that  they 
therefore  alone  have  any  future;  that  other  nations 
are  on  the  decline ;  and  the  time  is  not 
far  off  when  they  will  disappear  from 
among  first-class  powers.^  It  is  an  ungracious  thing 
to  say,  but  much  can  be  affirmed  to  sustain  the  posi- 
tion, that  of  European  nations,  only  England  and 
Russia  have  a  great  future.  All  othere  are  confined 
within  narrow  limits.  "In  the  matter  of  colonies 
more  than  anything  else,  the  proverb  '  Tarde  veni- 
entibus  ossa '  holds  goods.  England  long  ago  swal- 
lowed all  the  fat  pickings  and  left  only  meagre  glean- 
ings." 2    For  other  European  people,  Russia  excepted, 

1  Novoe  Vremya,  of  St.  Petersburg,  quoted  by  W.  D.  Foulke,  "  Slav 
or  Saxon,"  p.  1. 

2  Vambe'ry  in  "  The  Forum,"  November,  1888,  art.  "  Is  the  Power  of 
England  Declining ?  "  p.  232.  See  also  Sir  Charles  Dilke's  "Problems 
of  Greater  Britain,"  pp.  1  and  097. 


358  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

there  is  now  no  room  for  expansion  were  the  ability 
to  colonize  ever  so  marked.  No  one  fails  to  see  the 
greatness  of  Russia  and  the  certainty  that  it  is  to 
increase.  In  fact,  there  is  no  parallel  in  the  history 
of  the  world  to  the  growth  of  this  centralized  despot- 
ism ;  already  it  possesses  nearly  one-sixth  part  of 
the  land  on  the  globe,  a  territory  lying  contiguous, 
and  however  unfitted  in  parts  for  human  occupancy 
through  cold  and  sterility,  to  a  large  extent  possess- 
ing all  the  conditions  for  calling  out  the  utmost  vigor 
of  men.  Her  natural  resources  are  boundless ;  both 
in  Europe  and  Asia,  Russia  is  for  the  most  part  a  vast 
plain,  much  of  which  is  very  fertile,  well  watered, 
in  every  way  fitted  for  agriculture  ;  as  to  mineral 
wealth,  no  other  land  of  the  earth,  probably,  holds 
such  stores  of  coal,  iron,  oil,  silver,  and  gold. 

The  Slavic  race,  ignorant  and  strangely  docile,  full 
of  patience  and  fortitude,  is  characterized  also  by  a 
Sketch  of  ™ig^ty  energy,  sluggish,  indeed,  but  endur- 
RusBia.         -j-jg  ^Q  ^i^g  gj-^jj^  j^j-^(j  submitting  itself  readily 

to  outside  guidance.  Singularly  enough,  in  Russia 
may  be  found  a  vigorous  form  of  local  self-govern- 
ment. The  town-meeting  in  its  best  days  was  scarcely 
more  alive  in  New  England  than  in  the  mir,  or  Rus- 
sian village.  The  tun-moot  has  always  been  held  to 
be  the  best  possible  school  for  freedom,  but  in  Russia 
freedom  stops  with  the  mir.  Almost  exclusively  the 
people  cultivate  the  soil :  there  is  too  little  diversity 
of  occupation  to  call  out  intelligence.  The  vast 
stretclies  of  the  empire  prevent  the  contact  of  part 
with  part,  in  friction  which  might  strike  out  sparks 
of  civilization.  Whereas,  among  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  above  the  primary  moot,  came  the  moots  of 


ENGLISII-SPEAKIX(i    FIIATERXITY.  359 

hundred,  shire,  and  of  the  nation,  the  primitive  Slavs 
stopped  with  the  first  step :  the  small  neighborhoods, 
instead  of  uniting,  were  hostile  to  one  another ;  so 
torn  by  dissensions  in  fact  that  the  aid  of  foreigners 
was  invoked  to  avert  intolerable  disorder.  Hence 
the  introduction,  in  the  ninth  century,  of  the  line  of 
Rurik,  from  Scandinavia,  —  still  another  of  those  bril- 
liant, ubiquitous  Norsemen,  who  gave  the  early  medi- 
aeval world  so  many  leaders.  A  period  of  Tartar 
domination  followed,  —  of  merciless  severity,  —  pass- 
ing away  at  last,  but  leaving  a  people  accustomed  to  an 
absolute,  centralized  tyranny  under  which  they  were 
depressed  into  utter  serfdom.  A  sort  of  feudal  sys- 
tem introduced  by  the  line  of  Rurik  survived  the 
Tartar  rule,  and  out  of  this  came  the  nobility.  As 
our  own  times  are  approached,  Russia  offers  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  people  of  serfs,  bound  to  the  soil  and  there 
regulating  their  life  in  the  mirs,  but  with  Threatening 
an  absolute  lord  over  them  in  the  Czar,  to  hervasTde-* 
whom  they  look  as  a  sacred,  almost  a  su-  '^<*'op'"ent. 
pernatural  personage.  A  class  of  nobles,  separated 
from  the  people  by  an  impassable  gulf,  exists,  but  of 
a  free  middle  class  there  is  no  trace.  Though  serf- 
dom has  been  abolished,  the  people  are  scarcely  raised. 
The  autocracy  of  the  Czar,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
been  strengthened  through  the  diminution  of  the 
power  of  the  nobles,  whose  lands  have  been  bestowed 
upon  the  peasants.  The  people  are  treated  as  if  they 
were  minors.  "  Neither  a  chair  in  a  college  nor  a  bed 
in  a  hospital  can  be  endowed  without  the  interven- 
tion of  the  State."  The  Russian,  all  his  life,  is  "  like 
a  soldier  in  his  regiment,  who  marches,  halts,  ad- 
vances, retreats,  lifts  his  leg  or  his  foot  at  the  com- 


360  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

mand  of  the  instructing  sergeant."  Under  Nicholas, 
not  a  house  of  more  than  five  windows  could  be 
built  without  government  leave.  Nine-tenths  of 
the  Russians  are  a  peasantry,  wholly  ignorant,  with 
habits  of  submission  as  a  part  of  their  very  fibre. 
The  moral  and  physical  power  of  the  Czar  over 
them  in  the  intense  centralization  is  never  relaxed. 
They  are  held  as  in  a  vice.  As  civilization  grows  in 
Russia,  by  a  strange  inversion  it  seems  at  present 
only  to  erect  new  bulwarks  about  despotism.  The 
advance  of  knowledge  "  appears  only  to  strengthen 
the  hand  of  the  master."  The  development  of  agri- 
culture only  fastens  the  peasant  more  firmly  to  the 
soil ;  the  opening  of  mines  only  adds  horror  to  penal 
servitude ;  the  introduction  of  steam  and  electricity, 
the  central  power  controlling  all  means  of  intercom- 
munication, only  enables  the  autocrat  to  bring  to 
bear  his  authority  more  easily  upon  any  point  he 
wishes  to  reach. 

There  is  something  awe-inspiring  in  the  enormous- 
ness  of  the  might  which  the  autocrat  of  all  the  Rus- 
sias  is  so  rapidly  rolling  up.  His  subjects  at  present 
number  one  hundred  and  sixty  million  of  souls  living 
under  conditions,  indeed,  beset  with  difficulties,  but 
only  such  as  serve  to  call  into  their  best  exercise 
the  human  energies,  upon  a  territory  so  vast  that 
even  these  multitudes  seem  a  very  sparse  population. 
The  Slav  has  extraordinary  assimilating  power. 
Eighty  different  races  once  occupied  the  empire,  but 
there  is  not  one  which  the  Slav  has  not  swallowed, 
or  is  not  on  the  point  of  swallowing,  making  it  in 
language,  in  body,  and  in  soul,  part  of  himself.  Even 
the  Anglo-Saxon  appears  to  have  no  such  power  of 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING  FRATERNITY.  361 

assimilation.  The  Russians,  proceeding  from  the 
little  plateau  of  Valdai,  in  the  northwest  of  Euro- 
pean Russia,  southward  over  such  immense  tracts, 
remain  Russians  still,  only  strengthened  by  what 
they  have  absorbed.  There  is  no  limit  to  Russia's 
aggressiveness.  It  rolls  out  of  the  north  like  a 
snow-ball,  cold  before  civilization,  in  each  decade  a 
more  crushing  weight,  always  gathering  a  greater 
and  greater  volume.  In  the  village  communities 
land  is  assigned  to  families  in  proportion  to  their 
size,  —  a  provision  most  favorable  to  multiplication. 

What  if,  in  another  hundred  years,  Russia  should 
become  the  dominant  power  of  the  world !  It  is 
worth  while  to  scan  closely  the  features  of  the  em- 
pire which  may  be  able,  and  is  very  likely  to  have 
the  will,  to  reduce  the  human  race  to  vassalage.  Is 
there  any  hope  that  anything  less  dreary  can  come 
about  in  its  social  condition,  a  condition  which  it  may 
have  the  power  a  century  from  now  to  attempt  to 
make  universal?  No  hope,  except  from  that  little 
class  whom  we  have  learned  to  regard  with  terror,  — 
the  Nihilists.  They  belong  to  the  small  number  of 
educated  men  and  women,  for  the  most  part  nobles. 
Their  effort  is  desperate,  undertaken  in  the  face  of 
risks  which  have  been  presented  to  the  world  by 
most  graphic  pens  and  pencils.  Often  they  are 
truly  self-sacrificing,  acting  in  behalf  of  the  peasants 
for  whom  they  desire  to  shape  a  higher  life.^     It  has 

1  The  following  demands  are  said  to  have  been  laid  before  the  pres- 
ent Czar  at  his  accession  by  the  executive  committee  of  the  Nihilists :  — 

1.  A  general  amnesty  for  political  offenders,  and  a  convention  of 
representatives  of  the  people  to  examine  the  best  forms  of  social  and 
political  life ;  to  this  convention  deputies  to  be  chosen  by  all  classes 
without  distinction. 


362  ANGLO-SAXON  FREEDOM. 

been  well  said  that  in  their  methods  they  are  to  be 
compared  with  John  Brown.  Like  him,  the  impulse 
is  the  best ;  but  maddened  at  the  magnitude  of 
the  obstacles,  they  pursue  almost  the  methods  of 
insanity. 

Such  is  Russia  in  her  constitution,  such  in  her 
histoiy,  such  in  her  prospects.  Shall  we  calmly  say 
that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  no  duty  before  it 
in  view  of  such  facts  ?  It  would  be  humiliation 
unspeakable  to  see  the  Czar  installed  in  the  position 
of  dictator  of  the  world,  with  submissive  English- 
speaking  races  crouching  at  his  footstool.  Pride, 
however,  is  a  low  motive  to  which  to  appeal.  We 
believe  that  the  welfare  of  the  human  race  is  bound 
up  with  the  development  of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom. 
At  present  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  is  sharply  sun- 
dered, the  inharmonious  parts  holding  one  another 
aloof;  and  though  substantially  one  in  language, 
literature,  institutions,  and  every  detail  of  life,  nurs- 
ing old  prejudices  that  promote  a  harmful  fret. 
Though,  to  be  sure,  England  confronts  the  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  million  of  Russia  with  three  hundred 
million  in  her  own  empire,  yet  two  hundred  and  fifty 
million  of  these  are  the  Asiatics,  over  whom  her  do- 
minion is  confessed  to  be  so  precarious  that  it  may  be 
dissolved  in  an  hour.  Said  Lord  Randolph  Churchill, 
of  British  dominion  in  India,  "  It  is  a  thin  coat  of  oil 
on  the  surface  which  preserves  the  calm  of  an  ocean 


2.  No  restriction  of  any  kind  on  electors  or  deputies. 

3.  Tlie  government  to  grant,  as  provisional  regulations,  complete 
freedom  of  speech,  of  tlie  press,  and  of  public  meeting. 

The   Nihilists   solemnly  promise  to  submit   unconditionally  to   the 
decision  of  such  an  assembly  as  regards  a  proper  constitution  for  Russia. 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING   FRATERNITY.  oCo 

of  humanity  and  controls  its  storms."  Undoubtedly, 
British  rule  has  been  beneficent ;  order  has  come  out 
of  chaos ;  justice  out  of  rapine  ;  humanity  after  the 
spirit  of  murder.  No  bond  of  any  strength,  however, 
it  is  confessed,  binds  the  confusion  of  Mahometans 
and  idol-worshippers  of  a  hundred  kinds,  to  the  white- 
faced  strangers  who  have  come  among  them.  A  few 
hundred  civil  officials,  a  few  thousand  soldiers  scat- 
tered about  the  immense  peninsula,  wield  the  power 
of  England,  their  only  safety  being  that  the  mastered 
cannot  combine  against  them.  But  any  day  the 
closing  hour  of  the  English  rule  in  India  may  strike. 
In  1857,  that  power  hung  by  a  hair,  and  its  con- 
dition may  any  day  be  again  as  precarious. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  of  the  British  empire  are  some 
sixty  millions,  as  the  Americans  are  some  sixty  mil- 
lions. It  is  only  upon  that  stock  and  upon  those  whom 
that  stock  has  assimilated  that  dependence  can  be 
placed.  Russia  alone  nearly  or  quite  at  the  present 
hour  balances  the  two  together.  Whose  chances  are 
to-day  the  more  promising  for  rapid  growth  in  the 
near  future  into  compact,  effective  might,  —  those  of 
the  Slav  or  the  Anglo-Saxon  ?  Have  we  not  here  a 
consideration  worth  weighing  in  favor  of  Anglo-Saxon 
fraternity,  in  the  expediency  of  making  a  good  front 
against  the  Slav? 

It  is  not  merely  or  mainly  fighting  the  Slav  of 
which  the  Anglo-Saxon  should  think.  Of  course,  we 
will  fight  rather  than  go  down,  if  barbarian  Russia, 
having  become  still  more  the  colossus  of  nations,  is 
as  ready  with  her  bayonets  in  the  future  as  she  has 
been  in  the  past.  It  is  better,  however,  to  think  of 
the  indirect  but  mighty  influence  which  would  go 


364  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

forth  into  Russia,  from  a  league  of  free  states  so 
powerful  that  she  would  be  forced  to  respect  them. 
Russia  has  the  germs  within  her  of  freedom.  Her 
vast  hordes  of  peasants  are  capable  of  being  guided 
into  a  free  life.  Among  her  nobles  are  heroes  ready- 
in  the  most  desperate  times,  even  to  face  torture  and 
death  to  break  the  chains.  In  the  line  of  Czars,  even, 
come  characters  like  Catharine  and  Alexander,  of  a 
humane  and  liberal  spirit.  Now,  all  free  dispositions 
seem  to  be  forced  back.  A  noble  youth  comes  upon 
the  throne  and  begins  reforms ;  but  overcome  by  his 
environment,  he  soon  grows  reactionary :  patriots, 
discouraged,  fall  into  the  madness  of  nihilism.  Mean- 
time, the  vast  despotism,  in  spite  of  the  disintegrating 
forces  within  itself,  keeps  heaping  up  power  upon 
power.  If  it  becomes  dominant,  with  nothing  in  the 
world  that  it  needs  to  fear,  how  faint  the  likelihood 
that  it  can  improve  from  within  !  Confronted,  how- 
ever, by  freedom,  as  well  armed  as  itself,  as  compact, 
as  numerous,  what  hope  that  the  forces  within  that 
make  for  good  will  at  last  prevail !  An  Anglo-Saxon 
fraternity  must  not  come  about  in  obedience  to  a  low 
race  pride.  If  that  were  the  motive,  the  Slav  would 
be  more  worthy  to  rule  than  we ;  for  each  one  of 
those  million  soldiers  is  ready  to  give  up  life  in  a 
pathetic  and  thoroughly  honest  enthusiasm  for  holy 
Russia  as  the  worthy  mistress  of  nations.  Is  it  beyond 
hope  that  if  Anglo-Saxons  must  sometime  confront 
Russia,  they  may  feel  an  enthusiasm  equally  honest 
and  unselfish,  while  standing  for  ideas  which  are  to 
bless  mankind? 

Tennyson  sung  in  his  youth  of  — 


ENGLISH-SPEAKING  FRATERNITY.  365 

"  The  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world," 

SO  far,  no  doubt,  a  Utopian  dream,  but  who  will  say- 
it  may  not  some  time  be  approached  ?  Said  Lessing 
once,  in  words  which  have  often  been  regarded  as 
startling,  "  According  to  my  way  of  think-  Le^^j^g.^^ 
ing  the  reputation  of  a  zealous  patriot  is  ^nue  of  pa^^ 
the  very  last  that  I  would  covet ;  that  is,  ^'^°"''"- 
of  patriotism  which  teaches  me  to  forget  that  I  am  a 
citizen  of  the  world."  ^  Lessing's  heart  demanded 
something  far  broader  than  what  often  passes  under 
the  name  of  patriotism.  He  loved  to  call  himself  a  cos- 
mopolite, and  any  national  feeling  which  interfered 
with  the  most  liberal  humanit}^  love  for  the  entire  race, 
he  felt  to  be  vicious.  He  asserted  that  in  history  the 
individual  had  often  been  sacrificed  to  the  State,  and 
entertained  the  idea  that  a  body  of  superior  men  might 
be  constituted  in  every  nation  who  should  live  above 
all  narrowness,  and  striving  to  draw  mankind  into  a 
brotherhood,  should  work  together  for  the  abrogation 
of  national  lines.  —  In  a  similar  spirit  Goethe  ex- 
claimed: "Altogether,  national  hatred  is  a  curious 
thing.  You  will  always  find  it  strongest  and  most 
violent  in  the  lowest  stage  of  culture.  But  there  is 
a  stage  where  it  vanishes  completely,  and  where  one 
feels  himself  to  a  certain  extent  above  nations,  and 
feels  the  weal  and  woe  of  a  neighboring  people  as  one's 
own.  This  degree  of  culture  was  conformable  to  my 
nature,  and  I  had  been  strengthened  in  it  long  before 
my  sixtieth  year." 

Who  will  maintain  that  a  great  part  of  what  has 
passed  in  the  world  for  patriotism,  and  been  praised 

1  Gespriiche  fur  FreimUurer. 


366  ANGLO-SAXON   FREEDOM. 

to  the  skies  as  one  of  the  chief  of  virtues,  is,  after  all, 
Love  of  anytliing  else  than  an  expansion  of  selfish- 
higher  than    ness?      The  selfish  man,  pure  and  simple, 

love  of  coun-   .,  ,.  ,  i-i. 

try.  IS  he  who  has  no  thought  beyond  what  is 

wrapped  in  his  own  skin,  and  is  utterly  careless  as 
to  whether  all  beside  flourish  or  suffer.  Such  un- 
mixed selfishness,  however,  we  may  be  sure,  rarely, 
perhaps  never,  appears.  Each  human  being  has  a 
certain  environment,  —  his  family,  his  religious  sect, 
his  political  party,  the  State  of  which  he  is  a  citizen, 
—  which  he  identifies  with  himself,  and  for  whose 
welfare  he  schemes  and  labors.  No  doubt  selfishness 
broadens  toward  a  noble  principle  in  proportion  as 
the  individual  includes  within  the  circle  of  his  regard 
a  wider  and  wider  circle.  Yet  in  the  highest  view, 
any  limitation  of  the  sympathies  is  to  be  regretted 
which  prevents  a  thorough,  generous  going  out  of 
the  heart  toward  the  whole  human  race.  In  the 
great  teacher,  Christ,  the  eminent  beauty  is  that  from 
him  love  goes  forth  unrestrained ;  it  knows  no  limits 
of  family,  city,  country,  or  race.  It  is  easy  to  con- 
ceive of  a  love  of  family,  or  of  class,  or  of  country, 
which  may  have  a  most  unamiable  side.  When  the 
riches  of  a  man's  heart  are  quite  exhausted  within 
these  narrow  circles,  leaving  only  coldness  or  hatred 
for  the  world  beyond,  we  see  simply  an  expansion  of 
selfishness, — more  amiable,  no  doubt,  than  regard 
that  is  entirely  self-centred,  but  a  sentiment  short 
of  the  highest.  "  A  single  life,"  says  Lord  Bacon, 
"  doeth  well  with  churchmen,  for  charity  will  hardly 
water  the  ground  wliere  it  must  first  fill  a  pool."  ^ 
The  philosopher  has  in  mind  the  weakness  of  human 

1  Essays;  *'  Of  Marriage  and  Single  Life." 


EXGLISH-SPEAKIXG  FRATERNITY.  367 

nature,  and  asserts  that  a  man  surrounded  by  a 
family  will  of  necessity  exhaust  his  love  within  the 
confined  circle,  having  none  left  for  the  world  at 
large ;  hence,  let  the  priest,  who  should  in  an  espe- 
cial way  be  the  servant  of  humanity,  be  a  celibate. 
The  ideal  soul,  however,  it  may  be  replied,  will  possess 
a  store  of  charity  so  abundant  that  the  needs  of  the 
ground  will  be  met  as  well  as  of  the  pool.  It  is  some- 
thing toward  which  the  world  must  grow.  The  doc- 
trine of  Lessing  and  Goethe,  now  no  doubt  imprac- 
ticable, we  can  yet  see  is  elevated  teaching,  to  follow 
which  will  not  always  be  beyond  the  power  of  man. 
Look  carefully  at  what  has  been  admired  as  patriot- 
ism. If  we  go  to  Greece,  how  many  are  there  among 
her  heroes  who,  when  they  give  themselves  to  sword 
or  spear,  have  a  thought  beyond  Greece  ?  Bdp^apoi 
are  all  others,  not  precious  and  worthy  to  die  for.  If 
we  go  to  Rome,  it  is  simply  for  Rome  that  the  heroes 
die,  —  for  country ;  but  there  is  no  thought  beyond 
the  country.  To  die  for  that  was  the  last  refine- 
ment of  the  Roman  virtus,  the  sublimest  limit  of 
honor.  If  the  country  were  wrong,  if  it  stood  as  a 
curse  in  the  world  rather  than  a  blessing,  it  was  the 
same.  So  the  wild  Highlander  or  semi-barbarian 
mediaeval  prince  for  his  first  virtue  held  loyalty  to 
his  clan  or  gens,  —  Campbell  or  Gordon,  Orsini  or 
Colonna,  York  or  Lancaster ;  or  to  his  suzerain  lord, 
—  confronting  all  else  with  the  spear-point  and  the 
axe's  edge.  Louis  XIV  lived,  as  he  thought,  for 
France,  and  to  aggrandize  her  laid  waste  the  world 
elsewhere  with  fire  and  sword;  and  how  often  in 
every  civilized  land  has  a  narrow  national  feeling  in 
the  hearts  of  soldiers  and  statesmen,  baptized  by  a 


368  ANGLO-SAXOX   FREEDOM. 

name  held  in  honor,  and  lauded  as  a  virtue  beyond 
all  price,  brought  misery  upon  millions ! 

There  are  signs,  however,  of  something  better. 
Our  age  is  noteworthy  through  its  tendency  to  unifi- 
Biessings  of  catiou.  Tlirougli  Cavour,  disintegrated  Italy 
unification,  j^^.^g  comc  together  into  a  great  and  power- 
ful kingdom  under  the  leadership  of  the  able  house 
of  Savoy.  Still  more  memorably,  Germany  has  been 
redeemed  from  the  granulation  which  for  so  many 
ages  past  has  made  her  a  mere  rope  of  sand,  her 
petty  principalities  and  kingdoms  becoming  plaited 
at  length  into  a  nation  magnificent  in  size,  power, 
and  ability.  Such  coalescing  can  be  regarded  as  only 
advantageous,  if  we  look  toward  the  general  welfare 
of  the  human  race.  The  blending  of  small  nation- 
alities into  great  States,  and  of  States  into  still  larger 
unions,  which  marks  the  world  to-day,  is  a  subject 
for  rejoicing ;  because  by  such  a  gradual  coalescing  of 
related  parts  we  are  advancing  toward  a  time  when 
narrowing  lines  shall  be  done  away,  and  men  sit  down 
together  as  one  family. 

Humanity  at  large  will  be  benefited,  but  still  more 
than  this.  By  such  political  unification,  the  indi- 
vidual man  is  enlarged  and  lifted  up.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  remark  of  Fronde  :  "  The  dimension  and 
value  of  any  single  man  depend  upon  the  body  of 
which  he  is  a  member.  ...  A  citizen  of  an  imperial 
power  expands  to  the  scope  and  fulness  of  the  larger 
organism,  —  the  grander  tlie  organism,  the  larger  and 
more  important  the  unit  that  knows  he  belongs  to 
it.  His  thoughts  are  wider,  liis  interests  less  selfish, 
his  ambitions  ampler  and  nobler.  .  .  .  Behind  eacli 
American  citizen  America  is  standing,  and  he  knows 


english-spi:akixg  fuati<:rxity.        369 

it,  —  is  the  man  that  he  is  because  he  knows  it.  .  .  . 
A  great  nation  makes  great  men  ;  a  small  nation 
makes  little  men."  ^ 

If  the  considerations  presented  have  value,  they 
weigh  in  favor  of  the  position  that  English-speaking 
peoples  should  come  into  accord.  States  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 
between  which  there  exists  some  likeness  uonard^sunc 
must  first  draw  toward  one  another,  if  the  mu"t'firsueek 
world  is  to  move  in  the  direction  of  the  ''''^" 
fraternity  of  which  the  benevolent  have  dreamed. 
A  brotherhood  of  humanity  !  How  desirable  a  culmi- 
nation for  the  work  of  the  high  souls,  who,  during 
the  two  thousand  years  we  have  reviewed,  have,  each 
in  his  own  generation,  striven  to  sustain  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom ! 

"  Tlie  death  of  nations  in  their  work  began  ; 
They  sowed  the  seed  of  federated  man. 
Dead  nations  were  but  selhsli  liordes,  and  we 
The  first  battalion  of  liumauity  ! 
All  living 'nations  while  our  tokens  shine, 
One  after  one  shall  wheel  into  our  line  ; 
Our  free-born  heritage  shall  be  the  guide 
And  bloodless  order  of  their  regicide. 
The  sea  shall  join,  not  limit ;  mountains  stand 
Dividing  farm  from  farm,  not  land  from  land."  2 

1  Oceana,  pp.  355,  356. 

2  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  Poem  at  Plymouth,  August  1,  1889. 


NOTE. 

Magna  Charta,  the  Petition  of  Eight,  and  the  Bill 
of  Rights  were  called  by  the  Earl  of  Chatham  the  Bible 
of  the  English  Constitution.  Eegarding,  as  is  done  in  this 
book,  the  constitutional  history  of  the  entire  English- 
speaking  race,  we  can  place  two  other  memorable  docu- 
ments in  the  canon  with  the  three  mentioned.  They  are 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  under  which  ordered 
liberty  is  secured  for  the  larger  division  of  the  English- 
speaking  race ;  and  the  British  North  American  Act  of 
1867,  which  forms  at  present  the  Constitution  of  federated 
British  America,  and  will,  before  long,  probably  furnish 
the  model  for  the  polity  of  Greater  Britain  in  general. 
In  the  following  Appendices,  Magna  Charta,  the  Petition 
of  Right,  and  the  Bill  of  Eiglits,  are  presented  in  full, 
the  text  in  the  case  of  Magna  Charta  being  rendered 
from  the  Latin.  The  two  remaining  documents  are  too 
long  to  be  reproduced  here  in  full,  and  are  therefore 
summarized.  The  restimS  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  based  upon  that  of  Professor  Alex- 
ander Johnson,  in  the  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica";  that 
of  the  Constitution  of  Canada,  upon  the  abridgment, 
by  the  Hon.  H.  B.  Witton  of  Ontario,  contained  in 
Lalor's  "Cyclopaedia  of  Political  Science  and  Political 
Economy."  Eor  the  full  text  of  the  British  North 
American  Act  of  1867,  with  an  intelligent  commen- 
tary, the  reader  is  referred  to  the  work  of  Hon.  J.  G. 
Bourinot,  "  The  Constitution  of  Canada." 


APPENDIX  A. 


MAGNA  CHARTAi 

Ob  the  Great  Charter  of  King  John,  Granted  June  15, 
A.D.  1215, 

(Translation  from  the  Latin.) 

John,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  England,  Lord  of  Ireland, 
Duke  of  Normandy,  Aquitaine,  and  Count  of  Anjou,  to  his  Arch- 
bishops, Bishops,  Abbots,  Earls,  Barons,  Justiciaries,  Foresters, 
Sheriffs,  Governors,  Officers,  and  to  all  Bailiffs,  and  his  faithful 
subjects,  greeting.  Know  ye,  that  we,  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  our  soul,  and  the  souls  of  all  our  ancestors 
and  heirs,  and  unto  the  honour  of  God  and  the  advancement  of 
Holy  Church,  and  amendment  of  our  Realm,  by  advice  of  our 
venerable  Fathers,  Stephen,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury-,  Primate  of 
all  England  and  Cardinal  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church ;  Henry, 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  ;  William,  of  London ;  Peter,  of  Winchester ; 
Jocelin,  of  Bath  and  Glastonbury  ;  Hugh,  of  Lincoln  ;  Walter,  of 
Worcester;  William,  of  Coventry;  Benedict,  of  Rochester  —  Bish- 
ops :  of  Master  Pandulph,  Sub-Deacon  and  Familiar  of  our  Lord 
the  Pope ;  Brother  Aymeric,  Master  of  the  Knights- Templars  in 
England  ;  and  of  the  noble  Persons,  William  Marescall,  Earl  of 
Pembroke  ;  William,  Earl  of  Salisbury  ;  William,  Earl  of  Warren  ; 
William,  Earl  of  Arundel ;  Alan  de  Galloway,  Constable  of  Scot- 
land ;  Warin  FitzGerald,  Peter  FitzHerbert,  and  Hubert  de  Burgh, 
Seneschal  of  Poitou;  Hugh  de  Neville,  Matthew  FitzHerbert, 
Thomas  Basset,  Alan  Basset,  Philip  of  Albiney,  Robert  de  Roppell, 
John  Mareschal,  John  FitzHugh,  and  others,  our  liegemen,  have, 
in  the  first  place,  granted  to  God,  and  by  this  our  present  Charter 
confii-med,  for  us  and  our  heirs  for  ever  :  — 

1.  That  the  Church  of  England  shall  be  free,  and  have  her 
whole  rights,  and  her  liberties  inviolable  ;   and  we  will  have  them 

»  Old  South  Leaflets,  General  Series,  No.  3. 


372  APPEXDIX  A. 

so  observed,  that  it  may  appear  thence  that  the  freedom  of  elec- 
tions, which  is  reckoned  cliief  and  indispensable  to  the  English 
Church,  and  which  we  granted  and  confirmed  by  our  Charter,  and 
obtained  the  confirmation  of  the  same  from  our  Lord  the  I'ope 
Innocent  III.,  before  the  discord  between  us  and  our  barons,  was 
granted  of  mere  free  will ;  which  Charter  we  shall  observe,  and  we 
do  will  it  to  be  faithfully  observed  by  our  heirs  for  ever. 

2.  We  also  have  granted  to  all  the  freemen  of  our  kingdom,  for 
us  and  for  our  heirs  for  ever,  all  the  underwritten  liberties,  to  be 
had  and  holden  by  them  and  their  heirs,  of  us  and  our  heirs  for 
ever :  If  any  of  our  earls,  or  barons,  or  others,  who  hold  of  us  in 
chief  by  military  service,  shall  die,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  his 
heir  shall  be  of  full  age,  and  owe  a  relief,  he  shall  have  his  inheri- 
tance by  the  ancient  relief  —  that  is  to  say,  the  heir  or  heirs  of  an 
earl,  for  a  whole  earldom,  by  a  hundred  pounds  ;  the  heir  or  heirs 
of  a  baron,  for  a  whole  barony,  by  a  hundred  pounds ;  the  heir  or 
heirs  of  a  knight,  for  a  whole  knight's  fee,  by  a  hundred  shillings  at 
most;  and  whoever  oweth  less  shall  give  less,  according  to  the 
ancient  custom  of  fees. 

.3.  But  if  the  heir  of  any  such  shall  be  under  age,  and  shall  be 
in  ward,  when  he  comes  of  age  he  shall  have  his  inheritance  with- 
out relief  and  without  fine. 

4.  The  keeper  of  the  land  of  such  an  heir  being  under  age,  shall 
take  of  the  land  of  the  heir  none  but  reasonable  issues,  reasonable 
customs,  and  reasonable  services,  and  that  without  destruction  and 
waste  of  his  men  and  his  goods  ;  and  if  we  commit  the  custody  of 
any  such  lands  to  the  sheriff,  or  any  other  who  is  answerable  to  us 
for  the  issues  of  the  land,  and  he  shall  make  destruction  and  waste 
of  the  lands  which  he  hath  in  custody,  we  will  take  of  him  amends, 
and  the  land  shall  be  committed  to  two  lawful  and  discreet  men  of 
that  fee,  who  shall  answer  for  the  issues  to  us,  or  to  him  to  whom 
we  shall  assign  them ;  and  if  we  sell  or  give  to  any  one  the  custody 
of  any  such  lands,  and  he  therein  make  destruction  or  waste,  he 
shall  lose  the  same  custody,  which  shall  be  committed  to  two  law- 
ful and  discreet  men  of  that  fee,  who  shall  in  like  manner  answer 
to  us  as  aforesaid. 

5.  But  the  keeper,  so  long  as  he  shall  have  the  custody  of  the 
land,  shall  keep  up  the  houses,  parks,  warrens,  ponds,  mills,  and 
other  things  pertaining  to  the  land,  out  of  the  issues  of  the  same 
land ;  and  shall  deliver  to  the  heir,  whi'ii  he  comes  of  full  age,  his 
whole  land,  stocked  with  ploughs  and  carriages,  according  as  the 


APPENDIX  A.  373 

time  of  wainage  shall  require,  and  the  issues  of  the  land  can  reason- 
ably bear. 

6.  Heirs  shall  be  maiTied  without  disparagement,  and  so  that 
before  matrimony  shall  be  contracted,  those  who  are  near  in  blood 
to  the  heir  shall  have  notice. 

7.  A  widow,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  shall  forthwith 
and  without  difficulty  have  her  marriage  and  inheritance  ;  nor  shall 
she  give  anything  for  her  dower,  or  her  marriage,  or  her  inheri- 
tance, which  her  husband  and  she  held  at  the  day  of  his  death ; 
and  she  may  remain  in  the  mansion  house  of  her  husband  forty 
days  after  his  death,  within  which  time  her  dower  shall  be  assigned. 

8.  No  widow  shall  be  distrained  to  marry  herself,  so  long  as 
she  has  a  mind  to  live  without  a  husband ;  but  yet  she  shall  give 
security  that  she  will  not  marry  without  our  assent,  if  she  hold  of 
us  ;  or  without  the  consent  of  the  lord  of  whom  she  holds,  if  she 
hold  of  another. 

9.  Neither  we  nor  our  bailiffs  shall  seize  any  lan"d  or  rent  for 
any  debt  so  long  as  the  chattels  of  the  debtor  are  sufficient  to  pay 
the  debt ;  nor  shall  the  sureties  of  the  debtor  be  distrained  so  long 
as  the  principal  debtor  has  sufficient  to  pay  the  debt ;  and  if  the 
principal  debtor  shall  fail  in  the  payment  of  the  debt,  not  having 
wherewithal  to  pay  it,  then  the  sureties  shall  answer  the  debt ;  and 
if  they  will  they  shall  have  the  lands  and  rents  of  the  debtor,  until 
they  shall  be  satisfied  for  the  debt  which  they  paid  for  him,  unless 
the  principal  debtor  can  show  himself  acquitted  thereof  against 
the  said  sureties. 

10.  If  any  one  have  borrowed  anything  of  the  Jews,  more  or 
less,  and  die  before  the  debt  be  satisfied,  there  shall  be  no  interest 
paid  for  that  debt,  so  long  as  the  heir  is  under  age,  of  whomsoever 
he  may  hold ;  and  if  the  debt  falls  into  our  hands,  we  will  only 
take  the  chattel  mentioned  in  the  deed. 

11.  And  if  any  one  shall  die  indebted  to  the  Jews,  his  wife  shall 
have  her  dower  and  pay  nothing  of  that  debt ;  and  if  the  deceased 
left  children  under  age,  they  shall  have  necessaries  provided  for 
them,  according  to  the  tenement  of  the  deceased  ;  and  out  of  the 
residue  the  debt  shall  be  paid,  saving,  however,  the  service  due  to 
the  lords,  and  in  like  manner  shall  it  be  done  touching  debts  due  to 
others  than  the  Jews. 

12.  No  scutage  or  aid  shall  be  imposed  in  our  kingdom,  unless 
by  the  general  council  of  our  kingdom  ;  except  for  ransoming  our 
person,  making  our  eldest  son  a  knight,  and  once  for  marrying  our 


374  APPENDIX  A. 

eldest  daughter ;  and  for  these  there  shall  be  paid  no  more  than  a 
reasonable  aid.  In  like  manner  it  shall  be  concerning  the  aids  of 
the  City  of  London, 

13.  And  the  City  of  London  shall  have  all  its  ancient  liberties 
and  free  customs,  as  well  by  land  as  by  water :  furthermore,  we 
will  and  grant  that  all  other  cities  and  boroughs,  and  towns  and 
ports,  shall  have  all  their  liberties  and  free  customs. 

14.  And  for  holding  the  general  council  of  the  kingdom  concern- 
ing the  assessment  of  aids,  except  in  the  three  cases  aforesaid,  and 
for  the  assessing  of  scutages,  we  shall  cause  to  be  summoned  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  earls,  and  greater  barons  of  the 
realm,  singly  by  our  letters.  And  furthermore,  we  shall  cause  to 
be  summoned  generally,  by  our  sheriffs  and  bailiffs,  all  others  who 
hold  of  us  in  chief,  for  a  certain  day,  that  is  to  say,  forty  days 
before  their  meeting  at  least,  and  to  a  certain  place  ;  and  in  all 
letters  of  such  summons  we  will  declare  the  cause  of  such  summons. 
And  summons  being  thus  made,  the  business  shall  proceed  on  the 
day  appointed,  according  to  the  advice  of  such  as  shall  be  present, 
although  all  that  were  summoned  come  not. 

15.  We  will  not  for  the  future  gi'ant  to  any  one  that  he  may 
take  aid  of  his  own  free  tenants,  unless  to  ransom  his  body,  and  to 
make  his  eldest  son  a  knight,  and  once  to  marry  his  eldest  daughter ; 
and  for  this  there  shall  be  only  paid  a  reasonable  aid. 

10.  No  man  shall  be  distrained  to  perform  more  service  for  a 
knight's  fee,  or  other  free  tenement,  than  is  due  from  thence. 

17.  Common  pleas  shall  not  follow  our  court,  but  shall  be  holden 
in  some  place  certain. 

18.  Trials  upon  the  Writs  of  Novel  Disseisin, i  and  of  Mort 
d'ancestor,2  and  of  Darrein  rresentment,^  shall  not  be  taken  but  in 
their  proper  counties,  and  after  this  manner :  We,  or  if  we  should 
be  out  of  the  realm,  our  chief  justiciary,  will  send  two  justiciaries 
through  every  county  four  times  a  year,  who,  with  four  kniglits  of 
each  county,  chosen  by  the  county,  shall  hold  the  said  assizes  *  in 
the  county,  on  the  day,  and  at  the  place  appointed. 

19.  And   if   any   matters  cannot  be  determined  on   the  day 

1  Dispossession. 

2  Death  of  the  ancestor;  that  is,  in  cases  of  disputed  succession  to  land. 

3  Last  presentation  to  a  benefice. 

*The  word  Assize  here  means  "an  assembly  of  knights  or  other  substantial 
persons,  held  at  a  certain  time  and  place  where  they  sit  with  the  Justice. 
'  Assisa'  or  '  Assize  '  is  also  taken  for  the  court,  place,  or  time  at  which  the  writi 
of  Awize  are  taken."  —  Thompson's  Notea. 


APPENDIX  A.  375 

appointed  for  holding  the  assizes  in  each  county,  so  many  of  the 
knights  and  freeholders  as  have  been  at  the  assizes  aforesaid  shall 
stay  to  decide  them  as  is  necessary,  according  as  there  is  more  or 
less  business. 

20.  A  freeman  shall  not  be  amerced  for  a  small  offence,  but  only 
according  to  the  degree  of  the  offence ;  and  for  a  great  crime 
according  to  the  heinousness  of  it,  saving  to  him  his  contenement ;  i 
and  after  the  same  manner  a  merchant,  saving  to  him  his  merchan- 
dise. And  a  villein  shall  be  amerced  after  the  same  manner,  saving 
to  him  his  wainage,  if  he  falls  under  our  mercy ;  and  none  of  the 
aforesaid  amerciaments  shall  be  assessed  but  by  the  oath  of  honest 
men  in  the  neighbourhood. 

21.  Earls  and  barons  shall  not  be  amerced  but  by  their  peers, 
and  after  the  degree  of  the  offence. 

22.  No  ecclesiastical  person  shall  be  amerced  for  his  lay  tene- 
ment, but  according  to  the  proportion  of  the  others  aforesaid,  and 
not  according  to  the  value  of  his  ecclesiastical  benefice. 

23.  Neither  a  town  nor  any  tenant  shall  be  distrained  to  make 
bridges  or  embankments,  unless  that  anciently  and  of  right  they 
are  bound  to  do  it. 

24.  No  sheriff,  constable,  coroner,  or  other  our  bailiffs,  shall 
hold  "  Pleas  of  the  Crown."  2 

25.  All  counties,  hundreds,  wapentakes,  and  trethings,  shall 
stand  at  the  old  rents,  without  any  increase,  except  in  our  demesne 
manors. 

26.  If  any  one  holding  of  us  a  lay  fee  die,  and  the  sheriff,  or 
otu"  bailiffs,  show  our  letters  patent  of  summons  for  debt  which  the 
dead  man  did  owe  to  us,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  sheriff  or  our 
bailiff  to  attach  and  register  the  chattels  of  the  dead,  found  upon 
his  lay  fee,  to  the  amount  of  the  debt,  by  the  view  of  lawful  men, 
so  as  nothing  be  removed  until  our  whole  clear  debt  be  paid  ;  and 
the  rest  shall  be  left  to  the  executors  to  fulfil  the  testament  of  the 
dead ;  and  if  there  be  nothing  due  from  him  to  us,  all  the  chattels 
shall  go  to  the  use  of  the  dead,  saving  to  his  wife  and  children  their 
reasonable  shares. ^ 

1  "  That  by  which  a  person  BubsistB  and  which  is  essential  to  his  ranl£  in 
Ufe." 

*  These  are  suits  conducted  in  the  name  of  the  Crown  against  criminal 
offenders. 

2  A  person's  goods  were  divided  into  three  parts,  of  which  one  went  to  his 
wife,  another  to  his  heirs,  and  a  third  he  was  at  liberty  to  dispose  of.  If  he  had 
no  child,  his  widow  had  half;  and  if   he  bad  children,  but  no  wife,  half  was 


376  APPENDIX  A. 

27.  If  any  freeman  shall  die  intestate,  his  chattels  shall  be  dis- 
tributed by  the  hands  of  his  nearest  relations  and  friends,  by  view 
of  the  Church,  saving  to  every  one  his  debts  which  the  deceased 
owed  to  him. 

28.  No  constable  or  bailiff  of  ours  shall  take  corn  or  other  chat- 
tels of  any  man  unless  he  presently  give  him  money  for  it,  or  hath 
respite  of  payment  by  the  good- will  of  the  seller. 

29.  No  constable  shall  distrain  any  knight  to  give  money  for 
castle-guard,  if  he  himself  will  do  it  in  his  person,  or  by  another 
able  man,  in  case  he  cannot  do  it  through  any  reasonable  cause. 
And  if  we  have  carried  or  sent  him  into  the  army,  he  shall  be  free 
from  such  guard  for  the  time  he  shall  be  in  the  army  by  our 
command. 

30.  No  sheriif  or  bailiff  of  ours,  or  any  other,  shall  take  horses 
or  carts  of  any  freeman  for  carriage,  without  the  assent  of  the  said 
freeman. 

31.  Neither  shall  we  nor  our  bailiffs  take  any  man's  timber  for 
our  castles  or  other  uses,  unless  by  the  consent  of  the  owner  of  the 
timber. 

32.  We  will  retain  the  lands  of  those  convicted  of  felony  only 
one  year  and  a  day,  and  then  they  shall  be  delivered  to  the  lord  of 
the  fee.i 

33.  All  kydells  ^  (wears)  for  the  time  to  come  shall  be  put  down 
in  the  rivers  of  Thames  and  Medway,  and  throughout  all  England, 
except  upon  the  sea-coast. 

34.  The  writ  which  is  called  praecipe,  for  the  future,  shall  not 
be  made  out  to  any  one,  of  any  tenement,  whereby  a  freeman  may 
lose  his  court. 

35.  There  shall  be  one  measure  of  wine  and  one  of  ale  through 
our  whole  realm  ;  and  one  measure  of  corn,  that  is  to  say,  the 
London  quarter ;  and  one  breadth  of  dyed  cloth,  and  russets,  and 

divided  amongst  them.  These  several  sums  were  called  "reasonable  shares." 
Through  the  testamentary  jurisdiction  they  gradually  acquired  the  clergy  often 
contrived  to  get  into  their  own  hands  all  the  residue  of  the  estate  without  paying 
the  debts  of  the  estate. 

>  All  forfeiture  for  felony  has  been  abolished  by  the  33  and  34  Vic.  c.  23.  It 
seems  to  have  originated  in  the  destruction  of  the  felon's  property  being  part  of 
the  sentence,  and  this  "waste"  being  commuted  for  temporary  possession  by 
the  Oown. 

'  The  purport  of  this  was  to  prevent  enclosures  of  common  property,  or  com- 
mitting a  "  Purpresture."  These  wears  are  now  called  "kettles"  or  "kettle- 
nets  "  in  Kent  and  Cornwall. 


APPENDIX  A.  377 

haberjeets,  that  is  to  say,  two  ells  within  the  lists  ;  and  it  shall  be 
of  weights  as  it  is  of  measures. 

36.  Nothing  from  henceforth  shall  be  given  or  taken  for  a  writ 
of  inquisition  of  life  or  limb,  but  it  shall  be  granted  freely,  and  not 
denied.! 

37.  If  any  do  hold  of  us  by  fee-farm,  or  by  socage,  or  by 
b\irgage,  and  he  hold  also  lands  of  any  other  by  knight's  service, 
we  will  not  have  the  custody  of  the  heir  or  land,  which  is  holden  of 
another  man's  fee  by  reason  of  that  fee-farm,  socage, ^  or  burgage; 
neither  will  we  have  the  custody  of  the  fee-farm,  or  socage,  or 
burgage,  unless  knight's  service  was  due  to  us  out  of  the  same  fee- 
farm.  "We  will  not  have  the  custody  of  an  heir,  nor  of  any  land 
which  he  holds  of  another  by  knight's  service,  by  reason  of  any 
petty  serjeanty  ^  by  which  he  holds  of  us,  by  the  service  of  paying 
a  knife,  an  arrow,  or  the  like. 

38.  No  bailiff  from  henceforth  shall  put  any  man  to  his  law  * 
upon  his  own  bare  saying,  without  credible  witnesses  to  prove  it. 

39.  No  freeman  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned,  or  disseised,  or 
outlawed,  or  banished,  or  any  ways  destroyed,  nor  will  we  pass 
upon  him,  nor  will  we  send  upon  him,  unless  by  the  lawful  judg- 
ment of  his  peers,  or  by  the  law  of  the  land. 

40.  "We  will  sell  to  no  man,  we  will  not  deny  to  any  man,  either 
justice  or  right. 

41.  All  merchants  shall  have  safe  and  secure  conduct,  to  go  out 
of,  and  to  come  into  England,  and  to  stay  there  and  to  pass  as  well 
by  land  as  by  water,  for  buying  and  selling  by  the  ancient  and 
allowed  customs,  without  any  unjust  tolls  ;  except  in  time  of  war, 
or  when  they  are  of  any  nation  at  war  with  us.  And  if  there  be 
found  any  such  in  our  land,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  they  shall 
be  attached,  without  damage  to  their  bodies  or  goods,  until  it  be 
known  unto  us,  or  our  chief  justiciary,  how  our  merchants  be 
treated  in  the  nation  at  war  \sdth  us  ;  and  if  ours  be  safe  there,  the 
others  shall  be  safe  in  our  dominions. 

iThis  important  writ,  or  "writ  concerning  hatred  and  malice,"  may  have 
been  the  prototype  of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  was  granted  for  a  similar 
purpose. 

2 "Socage"  signifies  lands  held  by  tenure  of  performing  certain  inferior 
offices  in  husbandry,  probably  from  the  old  French  word  soc,  a  plough-share. 

'  The  tenure  of  giving  the  king  some  small  weapon  of  war  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  lands  held. 

*  Equivalent  to  putting  him  to  his  oath.  This  alludes  to  the  Wager  of  Law, 
by  which  a  defendant  and  his  eleven  supporters  or  "  compurgators  "  could  swear 
to  his  non-liability,  and  this  amounted  to  a  verdict  in  his  favor. 


378  APPENDIX  A. 

42.  It  shall  be  lawful,  for  the  time  to  come,  for  any  one  to  go 
out  of  our  kingdom,  and  return  safely  and  securely  by  land  or  by 
water,  saving  his  allegiance  to  us ;  unless  in  time  of  war,  by  some 
short  space,  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  realm,  except  pris- 
oners and  outlaws,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  people 
in  war  with  us,  and  merchants  who  shall  be  treated  as  is  above 
mentioned.! 

43.  If  any  man  hold  of  any  escheat,^  as  of  the  honour  of  Wal- 
lingford,  Nottingham,  Boulogne,  Lancaster,  or  of  other  escheats 
which  be  in  our  hands,  and  are  baronies,  and  die,  his  heir  shall  give 
no  other  relief,  and  perform  no  other  service  to  us  than  he  would 
to  the  baron,  if  it  were  in  the  baron's  hand ;  and  we  will  hold  it 
after  the  same  manner  as  the  baron  held  it. 

44.  Those  men  who  dwell  without  the  forest  from  henceforth 
shall  not  come  before  our  justiciaries  of  the  forest,  upon  common 
summons,  but  such  as  are  impleaded,  or  are  sureties  for  any  that 
are  attached  for  something  concerning  the  forest.^ 

45.  We  will  not  make  any  justices,  constables,  sheriffs,  or 
bailiffs,  but  of  such  as  know  the  law  of  the  realm  and  mean  duly  to 
observe  it. 

46.  All  barons  who  have  founded  abbeys,  which  they  hold  by 
charter  from  the  kings  of  England,  or  by  ancient  tenure,  shall  have 
the  keeping  of  them,  when  vacant,  as  they  ought  to  have. 

47.  All  forests  that  have  been  made  forests  in  our  time  shall 
forthwith  be  disforested;  and  the  same  shall  be  done  with  the 
water-banks  that  have  been  fenced  in  by  us  in  our  time. 

48.  All  evil  customs  concerning  forests,  warrens,  foresters,  and 
warreners,  sheriffs  and  their  officers,  water- banks  and  their  keepers, 
shall  forthwith  be  inquired  into  in  each  county,  by  twelve  sworn 
knights  of  the  same  county,  chosen  by  creditable  persons  of  the 
same  county  ;  and  within  forty  days  after  the  said  inquest  be 
utterly  abolished,  so  as  never  to  be  restored :  so  as  we  are  first 

1  The  Crown  has  Btill  technically  the  power  of  confining  subjects  within  the 
kingdom  by  the  writ  "  ne  exeat  regno,"  though  the  use  of  the  writ  is  rarely 
resorted  to. 

'The  word  escheat  is  derived  from  the  French  escheoir,  to  return  or  happen, 
and  signifies  the  return  of  an  estate  to  a  lord,  either  on  failure  of  tenant's  issue 
or  on  his  committing  felony.  The  abolition  of  Feudal  tenures  by  the  Act  of 
Charles  II.  (12  Charles  II.  c.  24)  rendered  obsolete  this  part  and  many  other  parts 
of  the  Charter. 

'The  laws  for  regulating  the  Royal  forests,  and  administering  justice  in 
respect  of  offences  committed  in  their  precincts,  formed  a  large  part  of  the  law. 


APPENDIX  A.  379 

acquainted  therewith,  or  our  justiciary,  if  we  should  not  be  in 
England, 

49.  "We  will  immediately  give  up  all  hostages  and  charters 
delivered  unto  us  by  our  English  subjects,  as  securities  for  theil 
keeping  the  peace,  and  yielding  us  faithful  service. 

50.  We  will  entirely  remove  from  their  bailiwicks  the  relations 
of  Gerard  de  Atheyes,  so  that  for  the  future  they  shall  have  no 
bailiwick  in  England;  we  will  also  remove  Engelard  de  Cygony, 
Andrew,  Peter,  and  Gyon,  from  the  Chancery  ;  Gyon  de  Cygony^ 
Geoffrey  de  Martyn,  and  his  brothers  ;  Philip  Mark,  and  his 
brothers,  and  his  nephew,  Geoffrey,  and  their  whole  retinue. 

51.  As  soon  as  peace  is  restored,  we  will  send  out  of  the  king- 
dom all  foreign  knights,  cross-bowmen,  and  stipendiaries,  who  are 
come  with  horses  and  arms  to  the  molestation  of  our  people. 

52.  If  any  one  has  been  dispossessed  or  deprived  by  us,  without 
the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  of  his  lands,  castles,  liberties,  or 
right,  we  will  forthwith  restore  them  to  him ;  and  if  any  dispute 
arise  upon  this  head,  let  the  matter  be  decided  by  the  five-and- 
twenty  barons  hereafter  mentioned,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace.  And  for  all  those  things  of  which  any  person  has,  without 
the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  been  dispossessed  or  deprived, 
either  by  our  father  King  Henry,  or  our  brother  King  Richard,  and 
which  we  have  in  our  hands,  or  are  possessed  by  others,  and  we 
are  bound  to  warrant  and  make  good,  we  shall  have  a  respite  till 
the  term  usually  allowed  the  crusaders  ;  excepting  those  things 
about  which  there  is  a  plea  depending,  or  whereof  an  inquest  hath 
been  made,  by  our  order  before  we  undertook  the  crusade  ;  but  as 
soon  as  we  return  from  our  expedition,  or  if  perchance  we  tarry  at 
home  and  do  not  make  our  expedition,  we  will  immediately  cause 
full  justice  to  be  administered  therein. 

53.  The  same  respite  we  shall  have,  and  in  the  same  manner, 
about  administering  justice,  disafforesting  or  letting  continue  the 
forests,  which  Henry  our  father,  and  our  brother  Richard,  have 
afforested ;  and  the  same  concerning  the  wardship  of  the  lands 
which  are  in  another's  fee,  but  the  wardship  of  which  we  have 
hitherto  had,  by  reason  of  a  fee  held  of  us  by  knight's  service  ;  and 
for  the  abbeys  founded  in  any  other  fee  than  our  own,  in  which  the 
lord  of  the  fee  says  he  has  a  right ;  and  when  we  return  from  our 
expedition,  or  if  we  tarry  at  home,  and  do  not  make  our  expedition, 
we  will  immediately  do  full  justice  to  all  the  complainants  in  this 
behalf. 


380  APPENDIX  A. 

54.  No  man  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned  upon  the  appeal  ^  of  a 
woman,  for  the  death  of  any  other  than  her  husband. 

55.  All  unjust  and  illegal  fines  made  by  us,  and  all  amercia- 
ments imposed  unjustly  and  contrary  to  the  law  of  the  land,  shall 
be  entirely  given  up,  or  else  be  left  to  the  decision  of  the  five-and- 
twenty  barons  hereafter  mentioned  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace,  or  of  the  major  part  of  them,  together  with  the  aforesaid 
Stephen,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  if  he  can  be  present,  and 
others  whom  he  shall  think  fit  to  invite  ;  and  if  he  cannot  be  pres- 
ent, the  business  shall  notwithstanding  go  on  without  him  ;  but  so 
that  if  one  or  more  of  the  aforesaid  five-and-twenty  barons  be  plain- 
tiffs in  the  same  cause,  they  shall  be  set  aside  as  to  what  concerns 
this  particular  affair,  and  others  be  chosen  in  their  room,  out  of  the 
said  five-and-twenty,  and  sworn  by  the  rest  to  decide  the  matter. 

56.  If  we  have  disseised  or  dispossessed  the  Welsh  of  any  lands, 
liberties,  or  other  things,  without  the  legal  judgment  of  their  peers, 
either  in  England  or  in  Wales,  they  shall  be  immediately  restored 
to  them  ;  and  if  any  dispute  arise  upon  this  head,  the  matter  shall 
be  determined  in  the  Marches  by  the  judgment  of  their  peers  ;  for 
tenements  in  England  according  to  the  law  of  England,  for  tene- 
ments in  Wales  according  to  the  law  of  Wales,  for  tenements  of 
the  Marches  according  to  the  law  of  the  Marches  :  the  same  shall 
the  Welsh  do  to  us  and  our  subjects. 

57.  As  for  all  those  things  of  which  a  Welshman  hath,  without 
the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  been  disseised  or  deprived  of  by 
King  Henry  our  father,  or  our  brother  King  Richard,  and  which  we 
either  have  in  our  hands  or  others  are  possessed  of,  and  we  are 
obliged  to  warrant  it,  we  shall  have  a  respite  till  the  time  generally 
allowed  the  crusaders  ;  excepting  those  things  about  which  a  suit  is 
depending,  or  whereof  an  inquest  has  been  made  by  our  order, 
before  we  undertook  the  crusade :  but  when  we  return,  or  if  we 
stay  at  home  without  performing  our  expedition,  we  will  immedi- 
ately do  them  full  justice,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Welsh  and 
of  the  parts  before  mentioned. 

58.  We  will  without  delay  dismiss  the  son  of  Llewellin,  and  all 
the  Welsh  hostages,  and  release  them  from  the  engagements  they 
have  entered  into  with  us  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace. 

'  An  Appeal  here  means  an  "  accusation."  The  Appeal  here  mentioned  was 
a  suit  for  a  penalty  in  which  the  plaintiff  was  a  relation  who  had  suffered  through 
a  murder  or  manslaughter.  One  of  the  incidents  of  this  "  Appeal  of  Death  "  was 
the  Trial  by  Battle.  These  Appeals  and  Trial  by  Battle  were  not  abolished 
before  the  passing  of  the  Act  59  Geo.  111.  c.  -16. 


APPENDIX   A.  381 

59.  We  will  treat  with  Alexander,  King  of  Scots,  concerning  the 
restoring  his  sisters  and  hostages,  and  his  right  and  liberties,  in  the 
same  form  and  manner  as  we  shall  do  to  the  rest  of  our  barons  of 
England ;  unless  by  the  charters  which  we  have  from  his  father, 
William,  late  King  of  Scots,  it  ought  to  be  otherwise ;  and  this 
shall  be  left  to  the  determination  of  his  peers  in  our  court. 

60.  All  the  aforesaid  customs  and  liberties,  which  we  have 
granted  to  be  holden  in  our  kingdom,  as  much  as  it  belongs  to  us, 
all  people  of  our  kingdom,  as  well  clergy  as  laity,  shall  observe,  as 
far  as  they  are  concerned,  towards  their  dependents. 

61.  And  whereas,  for  the  honour  of  God  and  the  amendment  of 
our  kingdom,  and  for  the  better  quieting  the  discord  that  has  arisen 
between  us  and  our  barons,  we  have  granted  all  these  things 
aforesaid  ;  willing  to  render  them  firm  and  lasting,  we  do  give  and 
grant  our  subjects  the  underwritten  security,  namely  that  the 
barons  may  choose  five-and-twenty  barons  of  the  kingdom,  whom 
they  think  convenient ;  who  shall  take  care,  with  all  their  might, 
to  hold  and  observe,  and  cause  to  be  observed,  the  peace  and 
liberties  we  have  granted  them,  and  by  this  our  present  Charter 
confirmed  in  this  manner  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  if  we,  our  justiciary, 
our  bailifis,  or  any  of  our  officers,  shall  in  any  circumstance  have 
failed  in  the  performance  of  them  towards  any  person,  or  shall 
have  broken  through  any  of  these  articles  of  peace  and  security, 
and  the  offence  be  notified  to  four  barons  chosen  out  of  the  five- 
and-twenty  before  mentioned,  the  said  four  barons  shall  repair  to 
us,  or  our  justiciar^-,  if  we  are  out  of  the  realm,  and,  laying  open 
the  grievance,  shall  petition  to  have  it  redressed  without  delay :  and 
if  it  be  not  redressed  by  us,  or  if  we  should  chance  to  be  out  of  the 
realm,  if  it  should  not  be  redressed  by  our  justiciary  within  forty 
days,  reckoning  from  the  time  it  has  been  notified  to  us,  or  to 
our  justiciary  (if  we  should  be  out  of  the  realm),  the  four  barons 
aforesaid  shall  lay  the  cause  before  the  rest  of  the  five-and-twenty 
barons ;  and  the  said  five-and-twenty  barons,  together  with  the 
community  of  the  whole  kingdom,  shall  distrain  and  distress  us  in 
all  the  ways  in  which  they  shall  be  able,  by  seizing  our  castles,  lands, 
possessions,  and  in  any  other  manner  they  can,  till  the  grievance 
is  redressed,  according  to  their  pleasure  ;  saving  harmless  our  own 
person,  and  the  persons  of  our  Queen  and  children  ;  and  when  it 
is  redressed,  they  shall  behave  to  us  as  before.  And  any  person 
whatsoever  in  the  kingdom  may  swear  that  he  will  obey  the  orders 
of  the  five-and-twenty  barons  aforesaid  in  the  execution  of  the 


382  APPEXDIX  A. 

premises,  and  will  distress  us,  jointly  with  them,  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power ;  and  we  give  public  and  free  liberty  to  any  one  that  shall 
please  to  swear  to  this,  and  never  will  hinder  any  person  from 
taking  the  same  oath. 

62.  As  for  all  those  of  our  subjects  who  will  not,  of  their  own 
accord,  swear  to  join  the  five- and- twenty  barons  in  distraining  and 
distressing  us,  we  will  issue  orders  to  make  them  take  the  same 
oath  as  aforesaid.  And  if  any  one  of  the  five- and- twenty  barons 
dies,  or  goes  out  of  the  kingdom,  or  is  hindered  any  other  way 
from  carrying  the  things  aforesaid  into  execution,  the  rest  of  the 
said  five- and- twenty  barons  may  choose  another  in  his  room,  at 
their  discretion,  who  shall  be  sworn  in  like  manner  as  the  rest.  In 
all  things  that  are  committed  to  the  execution  of  these  five-and- 
twenty  barons,  if,  when  they  are  all  assembled  together,  they 
should  happen  to  disagree  about  any  matter,  and  some  of  them, 
when  summoned,  will  not  or  cannot  come,  whatever  is  agreed 
upon,  or  enjoined,  by  the  major  part  of  those  that  are  present  shall 
be  reputed  as  firm  and  valid  as  if  all  the  five- and- twenty  had  given 
their  consent ;  and  the  aforesaid  five-and-twenty  shall  swear  that 
all  the  premises  they  shall  faithfully  observe,  and  cause  with  all 
their  power  to  be  observed.  And  we  will  procure  nothing  from 
any  one,  by  ourselves  nor  by  another,  whereby  any  of  these  con- 
cessions and  liberties  may  be  revoked  or  lessened  ;  and  if  any  such 
thing  shall  have  been  obtained,  let  it  be  null  and  void ;  neither 
will  we  ever  make  use  of  it  either  by  ourselves  or  any  other.  And 
all  the  ill-will,  indignations,  and  rancours  that  have  arisen  between 
us  and  our  subjects,  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  from  the  first  breaking 
out  of  the  dissensions  between  us,  we  do  fully  remit  and  forgive : 
moreover,  all  trespasses  occasioned  by  the  said  dissensions,  from 
Easter  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  our  reign  till  the  restoration  of 
peace  and  tranquillity,  we  hereby  entirely  remit  to  all,  both  clergy 
and  laity,  and  as  far  as  in  us  lies  do  fully  forgive.  We  have, 
moreover,  caused  to  be  made  for  them  the  letters  patent  testimonial 
of  Stephen,  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Henry,  Lord  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  and  the  bishops  aforesaid,  as  also  of  Master 
Fandulph,  for  the  security  and  concessions  aforesaid. 

68.  Wherefore  we  will  and  firmly  enjoin,  that  the  Church  of 
England  be  free,  and  that  all  men  in  our  kingdom  have  and  hold  all 
the  aforesaid  liberties,  riglits,  and  concessions,  truly  and  peaceably, 
freely  and  quietly,  fully  and  wholly  to  themselves  and  their  heirs, 
of  us  and  our  heirs,  in  all  things  and  places,  for  ever,  as  is  afore- 


APPENDIX  B.  383 

said.  It  is  also  sworn,  as  well  on  our  part  as  on  the  part  of  the 
barons,  that  all  the  things  aforesaid  shall  be  observed  in  good  faith, 
and  without  evil  subtilty.  Given  under  our  hand,  in  the  presence 
of  the  witnesses  above  named,  and  many  others,  in  the  meadow 
called  Runingmede,  between  Windsor  and  Staines,  the  15th  day  of 
June,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  our  reign. 


APPENDIX  B. 


THE  PETITION  OF   RIGHT. 

A.D.  1628.    3  Car.  I.  c.  1. 

The  Petition  exhibited  to  his  Majesty  by  the  Lords  Spiritual  and 
Temporal,  and  Commons,  in  this  present  Parliament  assembled, 
concerning  divers  Rights  and  Liberties  of  the  Subjects,  with  the 
King's  Majesty's  royal  answer  thereunto  in  full  Parliament. 

To  THE  Kixg's  Most  Excellent  Majesty. 

Humbly  show  unto  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King,  the  Lords  Spir- 
itual and  Temporal,  and  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled,  that 
whereas  it  is  declared  and  enacted  by  a  statute  made  in  the  time  of 
the  reign  of  King  Edward  I,  commonly  called  Statutum  de  Tal- 
lagio  non  concedendo,  that  no  tallage  or  aids  shall  be  laid  or  levied 
by  the  king  or  his  heirs  in  this  realm,  without  the  good-will  and 
assent  of  the  archbishops,  bishops,  earls,  barons,  knights,  bur- 
gesses, and  other  the  freemen  of  the  commonalty  of  this  realm ; 
and  by  authority  of  parliament  holden  in  the  five  and  twentieth 
year  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward  Third,  it  is  declared  and  enacted 
that  from  thenceforth  no  person  should  be  compelled  to  make  any 
loans  to  the  king  against  his  will,  because  such  loans  were  against 
reason  and  the  franchise  of  the  land  ;  and  by  other  laws  of  this 
realm  it  is  provided,  that  none  should  be  charged  by  any  charge  or 
imposition  called  a  benevolence,  nor  by  such  like  charge  ;  by  which 
statutes  before  mentioned,  and  other  the  good  laws  and  statutes  of 
this  realm,  your  subjects  have  inherited  this  freedom,  that  they 
should  not  be  compelled  to  contribute  to  any  tax,  tallage,  aid,  or 
other  like  charge  not  set  by  common  consent,  in  parliament. 


384  APPENDIX  B. 

II.  Yet  nevertheless  of  late  divers  commissions  directed  to  sun- 
dry commissioners  in  several  counties,  with  instructions,  have 
issued ;  by  means  whereof  your  people  have  been  in  divers  places 
assembled,  and  required  to  lend  certain  sums  of  money  unto  your 
Majesty,  and  many  of  them,  upon  their  refusing  so  to  do,  have  had 
an  oath  administered  unto  them  not  warrantable  by  the  laws  or  stat- 
utes of  this  realm,  and  have  been  constrained  to  become  bound  and 
make  appearance  and  give  utterance  before  your  Privy  Council  and 
in  other  places,  and  others  of  them  have  been  therefore  imprisoned, 
confined,  and  sundry  other  ways  molested  and  disquieted  ;  and 
divers  other  charges  have  been  laid  and  levied  upon  your  people  in 
several  counties  by  lord  lieutenants,  deputy  lieutenants,  commis- 
sioners for  musters,  justices  of  peace  and  others,  by  command  or 
direction  from  your  Majesty,  or  your  Privy  Council,  against  the 
laws  and  free  customs  of  the  realm. 

III.  And  whereas  also  by  the  statute  called  ' '  The  Great  Charter 
of  the  liberties  of  England,"  it  is  declared  and  enacted,  that  no 
freeman  may  be  taken  or  imprisoned  or  be  disseised  of  his  freehold 
or  liberties,  or  his  free  customs,  or  be  outlawed  or  exiled,  or  in  any 
manner  destroyed,  but  by  the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  by 
the  law  of  the  land. 

IV.  And  in  the  eight  and  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  King 
Edward  III,  it  was  declared  and  enacted  by  authority  of  parlia- 
ment, that  no  man,  of  what  estate  or  condition  that  he  be,  should 
be  put  out  of  his  land  or  tenements,  nor  taken,  nor  imprisoned,  nor 
disherited,  nor  put  to  death  without  being  brought  to  answer  by 
due  process  of  law. 

V.  Nevertheless,  against  the  tenor  of  the  said  statutes,  and  other, 
the  good  laws  and  statutes  of  your  realm  to  that  end  provided, 
divers  of  your  subjects  have  of  late  been  imprisoned  without  any 
cause  showed  ;  and  when  for  their  deliverance  they  were  brought 
before  your  justices  by  your  Majesty's  writs  of  Habeas  Corpus, 
there  to  undergo  and  receive  as  the  court  should  order,  and  their 
keepers  commanded  to  certify  the  causes  of  their  detainer,  no 
cause  was  certified,  but  that  they  were  detained  by  your  Majesty's 
special  command,  signified  by  the  lords  of  your  Privy  Council, 
and  yet  were  returned  back  to  several  prisons,  without  being 
charged  with  anything  to  which  they  might  make  answer  according 
to  the  law. 

VI.  And  whereas  of  late  great  companies  of  soldiers  and  mari- 
ners have  been  dispersed  into  divers  counties  of  the  realm,  and  the 


APPENDIX  B.  385 

inhabitants  against  their  wills  have  been  compelled  to  receive  them 
into  their  houses,  and  there  to  suffer  them  to  sojourn  against  the 
laws  and  customs  of  this  realm,  and  to  the  great  grievance  and 
vexation  of  the  people. 

VII.  And  whereas  also  by  authority  of  parliament,  in  the  five 
and  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward  III,  it  is  declared 
and  enacted,  that  no  man  shall  be  forejudged  of  life  or  limb  against 
the  form  of  the  Great  Charter  and  the  law  of  the  land  ;  and  by  the 
said  Great  Charter  and  otiier  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  your 
realm,  no  man  ought  to  be  adjudged  to  death  but  by  the  laws  estab- 
lished in  this  your  realm,  either  by  the  customs  of  the  same  realm, 
or  by  acts  of  parliament :  and  whereas  no  offender  of  what  kind 
soever  is  exempted  from  the  proceedings  to  be  used,  and  punish- 
ments to  be  inflicted  by  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  your  realm  ; 
nevertheless  of  late  time  divers  commissions  under  your  Majesty's 
great  seal  have  issued  forth,  by  which  certain  persons  have  been 
assigned  and  appointed  commissioners  with  power  and  authority  to 
proceed  within  the  land,  according  to  the  justice  of  martial  law 
against  such  soldiers  or  mariners,  or  other  dissolute  persons  joining 
with  them,  as  should  commit  any  murder,  robbery,  felony,  mutiny, 
or  other  outrage  or  misdemeanor  whatsoever,  and  by  such  summary 
course  and  order  as  is  agreeable  to  martial  law,  and,  as  is  used  in 
armies  in  time  of  war,  to  proceed  to  the  trial  and  condemnation  of 
such  offenders,  and  them  to  cause  to  be  executed  and  put  to  death 
according  to  the  law  martial. 

VIII.  By  pretext  whereof  some  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  have 
been  by  some  of  the  said  commissioners  put  to  death,  when  and 
where,  if  by  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  land  they  have  deserved 
death,  by  the  same  laws  and  statutes  also  they  might,  and  by  no 
other  ought  to  have  been  judged  and  executed. 

IX.  And  also  sundry  grievous  offenders,  by  colour  thereof  claim- 
ing an  exemption,  have  escaped  the  punishments  due  to  them  by 
the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  your  realm,  by  reason  that  divers  of 
your  officers  and  ministers  of  justice  have  unjustly  refused  or  for- 
borne to  proceed  against  such  offenders  according  to  the  same  laws 
and  statutes,  upon  pretence  that  the  said  offenders  were  punishable 
only  by  martial  law,  and  by  authority  of  such  commissions  as 
aforesaid  ;  which  commissions  and  all  other  of  like  nature  are 
wholly  and  directly  contrary  to  the  said  laws  and  statutes  of  this 
your  realm. 

X.  They  do  therefore  humbly  pray  your  most  excellent  Majesty, 


386  APPENDIX  C. 

that  no  man  hereafter  be  compelled  to  make  or  yield  any  gift,  loan, 
benevolence,  tax,  or  such  like  charge,  without  common  consent  by 
act  of  parliament;  and  that  none  be  called  to  make  answer,  or 
take  such  oath,  or  to  give  attendance,  or  be  confined,  or  otherwise 
molested  or  disquieted  concerning  the  same  or  for  refusal  thereof ; 
and  that  no  freeman,  in  any  such  manner  as  is  before  mentioned, 
be  imprisoned  or  detained ;  and  that  your  Majesty  would  be  pleased 
to  remove  the  said  soldiers  and  mariners,  and  that  your  people  may 
not  be  so  burdened  in  time  to  come  ;  and  that  the  aforesaid  com- 
missions, for  proceeding  by  martial  law,  may  be  revoked  and 
annulled ;  and  that  hereafter  no  commissions  of  like  nature  may 
issue  forth  to  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever  to  be  executed  as 
aforesaid,  lest  by  colour  of  them  any  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  be 
destroyed  or  put  to  death  contrary  to  the  laws  and  franchise  of  the 
land. 

XI.  All  which  they  most  humbly  pray  of  your  most  excellent 
Majesty  as  their  rights  and  liberties,  according  to  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  this  realm  ;  and  that  your  Majesty  would  also  vouchsafe 
to  declare,  that  the  awards,  doings,  and  proceedings,  to  the  preju- 
dice of  your  people  in  any  of  the  premises,  shall  not  be  drawn  here- 
after into  consequence  or  example ;  and  that  your  Majesty  would 
be  also  graciously  pleased,  for  the  further  comfort  and  safety  of 
your  people,  to  declare  your  royal  will  and  pleasure,  that  in  the 
things  aforesaid  all  your  officers  and  ministers  shall  serve  you 
according  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm,  as  they  tender  the 
honour  of  your  Majesty,  and  the  prosperity  of  this  kingdom. 

Qua  quidem  petitione  lecta  et  plenius  intellecta  per  dictum  domi- 
num  regem  taliter  est  responsum  in  pleno  parliamento ,  viz.  Soit 
droit  fait  come  est  desire.     Statutes  of  the  Kealm,  v.  24,  25. 


APPENDIX  C. 


THE  BILL  OF  RIGHTS. 

A.D.  1689.    1  "Will.  &  Mar.  Sess.  2,  c.  2. 

Whereas  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Commons, 
assembled  at  Westminster,  lawfully,  fully,  and  freely  representing 
all  the  estates  of  the  people  of  this  realm,  did,  upon  the  thirteenth 


APPENDIX   C.  387 

day  of  February,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred 
eighty-eight,  present  unto  their  Majesties,  then  called  and  known 
by  the  names  and  style  of  William  and  Mary,  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Orange,  being  present  in  their  proper  persons,  a  certain  declara- 
tion in  writing,  made  by  the  said  Lords  and  Commons,  in  the  words 
following  ;  viz  :  — 

Whereas  the  late  King,  James  II,  by  the  assistance  of  diverse 
evil  counsellors,  judges,  and  ministers  employed  by  him,  did 
endeavour  to  subvert  and  extirpate  the  Protestant  religion,  and  the 
laws  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom  :  — 

1.  By  assuming  and  exercising  a  power  of  dispensing  with  and 
suspending  of  laws,  and  the  execution  of  laws,  without  consent  of 
Parliament. 

2.  By  committing  and  prosecuting  divers  worthy  prelates,  for 
humbly  petitioning  to  be  excused  from  concurring  to  the  same 
assumed  power. 

3.  By  issuing  and  causing  to  be  executed  a  commission  under 
the  Great  Seal  for  erecting  a  court,  called  the  Court  of  Commission- 
ers for  Ecclesiastical  Causes. 

4.  By  levying  money  for  and  to  the  use  of  the  Crown,  by  pre- 
tence of  prerogative,  for  other  time,  and  in  other  manner  than  the 
same  was  granted  by  Parliament. 

6.  By  raising  and  keeping  a  standing  army  within  this  kingdom 
in  time  of  peace,  without  consent  of  Parliament,  and  quartering  sol- 
diers contrary  to  law. 

6.  By  causing  several  good  subjects,  being  Protestants,  to  be 
disarmed,  at  the  same  time  when  Papists  were  both  armed  and 
employed  contrary  to  law. 

7.  By  violating  the  freedom  of  election  of  members  to  serve  in 
Parliament. 

8.  By  prosecutions  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  for  matters 
and  causes  cognizable  only  in  Parliament ;  and  by  diverse  other 
arbitrary  and  illegal  courses. 

9.  And  whereas  of  late  years,  partial,  corrupt,  and  unqualified 
persons  have  been  returned  and  served  on  jmies  in  trials,  and  par- 
ticularly diverse  jurors  in  trials  for  high  treason,  which  were  not 
freeholders. 

10.  And  excessive  bail  hath  been  required  of  persons  committed 
in  criminal  cases,  to  elude  the  benefit  of  the  laws  made  for  the  lib- 
erty of  the  subjects. 

11.  And  excessive  fines  have  been  imposed;  and  illegal  and 
cruel  punishments  inflicted. 


388  APPENDIX  C. 

12.  And  several  grants  and  promises  made  of  fines  and  forfeit- 
ures before  any  conviction  or  judgment  against  tlie  persons  upon 
whom  the  same  were  to  be  levied. 

All  which  are  utterly  and  directly  contrary  to  the  known  laws 
and  statutes,  and  freedom  of  this  realm. 

And  whereas  the  said  late  King  James  II  having  abdicated  the 
government,  and  the  throne  being  thereby  vacant,  his  Highness, 
the  Prince  of  Orange  (whom  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  make 
the  glorious  instrument  of  delivering  this  kingdom  from  popery  and 
arbitrary  power)  did  (by  the  advice  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and 
Temporal,  and  divers  principal  persons  of  the  Commons)  cause  let- 
ters to  be  written  to  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  being  Prot- 
estants, and  other  letters  to  the  several  counties,  cities,  universi- 
ties, boroughs,  and  cinque  ports,  for  the  choosing  of  such  persons 
as  represent  them,  as  were  of  right  to  be  sent  to  Parliament,  to 
meet  and  sit  at  Westminster  upon  the  two-and-twentieth  day  of 
January,  in  this  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  eighty  and  eight,  in 
order  to  such  an  establishment,  as  that  their  religion,  laws  and  lib- 
erties might  not  again  be  in  danger  of  being  subverted  ;  upon  which 
letters,  elections  have  been  accordingly  made. 

And  thereupon  the  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and 
Commons,  pursuant  to  their  respective  letters  and  elections,  being 
now  assembled  in  a  full  and  free  representation  of  this  nation, 
taking  into  their  most  serious  consideration  the  best  means  for 
attaining  the  ends  aforesaid,  do  in  the  first  place  (as  their  ancestors 
in  like  case  have  usually  done),  for  the  vindicating  and  asserting 
their  ancient  rights  and  liberties,  declare  :  — 

1.  That  the  pretended  power  of  suspending  of  laws,  or  the  execu- 
tion of  laws,  by  regal  authority,  without  consent  of  parliament,  is 
illegal. 

2.  That  the  pretended  power  of  dispensing  with  laws,  or  the 
execution  of  laws  by  regal  authority,  as  it  hath  been  assumed  and 
exercised  of  late,  is  illegal. 

3.  That  the  commission  for  erecting  the  late  Court  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Ecclesiastical  causes,  and  all  other  commissions  and 
courts  of  like  nature,  are  illegal  and  pernicious. 

4.  That  levying  money  for  or  to  the  use  of  the  Crown,  by 
pretence  of  prerogative,  without  gi-ant  of  parliament,  for  longer  time 
or  in  other  manner  than  the  same  is  or  shall  be  gi-anted,  is  illegal. 

5.  That  it  is  the  right  of  the  subjects  to  petition  the  king,  and 
all  commitments  and  prosecutions  for  sucli  petitioning  are  illegal. 


APPENDIX  C.  389 

6.  That  the  raising  or  keeping  a  standing  army  within  the  king- 
dom in  time  of  peace,  unless  it  be  witli  consent  of  parliament,  is 
against  law. 

7.  That  the  subjects  which  are  Protestants  may  have  arms  for 
their  defence  suitable  to  their  conditions,  and  as  allowed  by  law. 

8.  That  election  of  members  of  parliament  ought  to  be  free. 

9.  That  the  freedom  of  speech,  and  debates  of  proceedings  in 
parliament,  ought  not  to  be  impeached  or  questioned  in  any  court 
or  place  out  of  parliament. 

10.  That  excessive  bail  ought  not  to  be  required,  nor  excessive 
fines  imposed  ;  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

11.  That  jurors  ought  to  be  duly  impanelled  and  returned,  and 
jurors  which  pass  upon  men  in  trials  for  high  treason  ought  to  be 
freeholders. 

12.  That  all  grants  and  promises  of  fines  and  forfeitures  of  par- 
ticular persons  before  conviction,  are  illegal  and  void. 

13.  And  that  for  redress  of  all  grievances  and  for  the  amend- 
ing, strengthening,  and  preserving  of  the  laws,  parliament  ought 
to  be  held  frequently. 

And  they  do  claim,  demand,  and  insist  upon  all  and  singular 
the  premises,  as  their  undoubted  rights  and  liberties  ;  and  that  no 
declarations,  judgments,  doings,  or  proceedings,  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  people  in  any  of  the  said  premises,  ought  in  any  wise  to  be 
drawn  hereafter  into  consequence  or  example. 

To  which  demand  of  their  rights  they  are  particularly  encouraged 
by  the  declaration  of  his  Highness  the  Prince  of  Orange,  as  being 
the  only  means  for  obtaining  a  full  redress  and  remedy  therein. 

Having  therefore  an  entire  confidence  that  his  said  Highness 
the  Prince  of  Orange  will  perfect  the  deliverance  so  far  advanced 
by  him,  and  will  still  preserve  them  from  the  violation  of  their 
rights,  which  they  have  here  asserted,  and  from  all  other  attempts 
upon  their  religion,  rights,  and  liberties  ; 

II.  The  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Commons, 
assembled  at  Westminster,  do  resolve,  that  William  and  Mary, 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange,  be,  and  be  declared.  King  and  Queen 
of  England,  France,  and  Ireland,  and  the  dominions  thereunto 
belonging,  to  hold  the  Crown  and  royal  dignity  of  the  said  King- 
doms and  dominions  to  them  the  said  Prince  and  Princess  during 
their  lives,  and  the  life  of  the  survivor  of  them  ;  and  that  the  sole 
and  full  exercise  of  the  regal  power  be  only  in,  and  executed  by, 
the  said  Prince  of  Orange,  in  the  names  of  the  said  Prince  and 


390  APPENDIX  C. 

Princess,  during  their  joint  lives ;  and  after  their  deceases,  the 
said  Crown  and  royal  dignity  of  the  said  kingdoms  and  dominions 
to  be  to  the  heirs  of  the  body  of  the  said  Princess  ;  and  for  default 
of  such  issue  to  the  Princess  Anne  of  Denmark,  and  the  heirs  of 
her  body ;  and  for  default  of  such  issue  to  the  heirs  of  the  body 
of  the  said  Prince  of  Orange.  And  the  Lords  Spiritual  and 
Temporal,  and  Commons,  do  pray  the  said  Prince  and  Princess  to 
accept  the  same  accordingly. 

III.  And  that  the  oaths  hereafter  mentioned  be  taken  by  all 
persons  of  whom  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  might  be 
required  by  law,  instead  of  them ;  and  that  the  said  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy  be  abrogated. 

I,  A.  B. ,  do  sincerely  promise  and  swear.  That  I  will  be  faithful 
and  bear  true  allegiance  to  their  Majesties  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary:  So  help  me  God. 

I,  A.  B.,  do  swear,  That,  I  do  from  my  heart  abhor,  deteSt,  and 
abjure  as  impious  and  heretical,  that  damnable  doctrine  and 
position,  that  Princes  excommunicated  or  deprived  by  the  Pope,  or 
any  authority  of  the  See  of  Rome,  may  be  deposed  or  murdered 
by  their  subjects,  or  any  other  whatsoever.  And  I  do  declare. 
That  no  foreigii  prince,  person,  prelate,  state,  or  potentate,  hath,  or 
ought  to  have,  any  jurisdiction,  power,  superiority,  pre-eminence, 
or  authority  ecclesiastical  or  spiritual,  within  this  realm  : 

So  HELP  ME  God. 

IV.  Upon  which  their  said  Majesties  did  accept  the  Crown  and 
royal  dignity  of  the  kingdoms  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland, 
and  the  dominions  thereunto  belonging,  according  to  the  resolution 
and  desire  of  the  said  Lords  and  Commons  contained  in  the  said 
declaration. 

V.  And  thereupon  their  Majesties  were  pleased,  that  the  said 
Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Commons,  being  the  two 
Houses  of  Parliament,  should  continue  to  sit,  and  with  their 
Majesties'  royal  concurrence  make  effectual  provision  for  the 
settlement  of  the  religion,  laws,  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom,  so 
that  the  same  for  the  future  might  not  be  in  danger  again  of  being 
subverted;  to  which  the  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and 
Commons,  did  agree  and  proceed  to  act  accordingly. 

VI.  Now  in  pursuance  of  the  premises,  the  said  Lords  Spiritual 
and  Temporal,  and  Commons,  in  parliament  assembled,  for  the 
ratifying,  confirming,  and  establishing  the  said  declaration,  and 


APPENDIX  C.  391 

the  articles,  clauses,  matters,  and  things  therein  contained,  by  the 
force  of  a  law  made  in  due  form  by  authority  of  parliament,  do 
pray  that  it  may  be  declared  and  enacted.  That  all  and  singular  the 
rights  and  liberties  asserted  and  claimed  in  the  said  declaration,  are 
the  true,  ancient,  and  indubitable  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people 
of  this  kingdom,  and  so  shall  be  esteemed,  allowed,  adjudged, 
deemed,  and  taken  to  be,  and  that  all  and  every  the  particulars 
aforesaid  shall  be  firmly  and  strictly  holden  and  observed,  as  they 
are  expressed  in  the  said  declaration ;  and  all  officers  and  ministers 
whatsoever  shall  serve  their  Majesties  and  their  successors  accord- 
ing to  the  same  in  all  times  to  come. 

VII.  And  the  same  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Com- 
mons, seriously  considering  how  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God,  in 
his  marvellous  providence,  and  merciful  goodness  to  this  nation,  to 
provide  and  preserve  their  said  Majesties'  royal  persons  most  hap- 
pUy  to  reign  over  us  upon  the  throne  of  their  ancestors,  for  which 
they  render  unto  Him  from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts  their  hum- 
blest thanks  and  praises,  do  truly,  firmly,  assuredly,  and  in  the 
sincerity  of  their  hearts,  think,  and  do  hereby  recognize,  acknowl- 
edge, and  declare,  that  King  James  II  having  abdicated  the  gov- 
ernment and  their  Majesties  having  accepted  the  Crown  and  royal 
dignity  aforesaid,  their  said  Majesties  did  become,  were,  are,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  by  the  laws  of  this  realm,  our  sovereign  liege 
Lord  and  Lady,  King  and  Queen  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland, 
and  the  dominions  thereunto  belonging,  in  and  to  whose  princely 
persons  the  royal  State,  Crown,  and  dignity  of  the  same  realms, 
with  all  honours,  styles,  titles,  regalities,  prerogatives,  powers, 
jurisdictions  and  authorities  to  the  same  belonging  and  appertain- 
ing, are  most  fully,  rightfully,  and  entirely  invested  and  incorpo- 
rated, united,  and  annexed. 

VIII.  And  for  preventing  all  questions  and  divisions  in  this 
realm,  by  reason  of  any  pretended  titles  to  the  Crown,  and  for  pre- 
serving a  certainty  in  the  succession  thereof,  in  and  upon  wliich 
the  imity,  peace,  tranquillity,  and  safety  of  this  nation,  doth,  under 
God,  wholly  consist  and  depend,  the  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Tem- 
poral, and  Commons,  do  beseech  their  Majesties  that  it  may  be 
enacted,  established,  and  declared,  that  the  Crown  and  regal  gov- 
ernment of  the  said  kingdoms  and  dominions,  with  all  and  singular 
the  premises  thereunto  belonging  and  appertaining,  shall  be  and 
continue  to  their  said  Majesties,  and  the  survivor  of  them,  during 
their  lives,  and  the  life  of  the  survivor  of  them.    And  that  the 


392  APPEXDIX  C. 

entire,  perfect,  and  full  exercise  of  the  regal  power  and  government 
be  only  in,  and  executed  by,  his  Majesty,  in  the  names  of  both 
their  Majesties  duruig  their  joint  lives  ;  and  after  their  deceases  the 
said  Crown  and  premises  shall  be  and  remain  to  the  heirs  of  the 
body  of  her  Majesty :  and  for  default  of  such  issue,  to  her  Royal 
Highness  the  Princess  Anne  of  Denmark,  and  the  heirs  of  her 
body  :  and  for  default  of  such  issue,  to  the  heirs  of  the  body  of  his 
said  Majesty  :  and  thereunto  the  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Tempo- 
ral, and  Commons,  do,  in  the  name  of  all  the  people  aforesaid, 
most  humbly  and  faithfully  submit  themselves,  their  heirs  and  pos- 
terities, forever:  and  do  faithfully  promise.  That  they  will  stand 
to,  maintain,  and  defend  their  said  Majesties,  and  also  the  limita- 
tion and  succession  of  the  Crown  herein  specified  and  contained, 
to  the  utmost  of  their  powers,  with  their  lives  and  estates,  against 
all  ijersons  whatsoever  that  shall  attempt  anything  to  the  contrary. 

IX.  And  whereas  it  hath  been  found  by  experience,  that  it  is 
inconsistent  with  the  safety  and  welfare  of  this  Protestant  king- 
dom, to  be  governed  by  a  Popish  prince,  or  by  any  king  or  queen 
marrying  a  Papist,  the  said  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and 
Commons,  do  further  pray  that  it  may  be  enacted.  That  all  and 
every  person  and  persons  that  is,  are  or  shall  be  reconciled  to,  or 
shall  hold  communion  with,  the  See  or  Church  of  Rome,  or  shall 
profess  the  Popish  religion,  or  shall  marry  a  Papist,  shall  be 
excluded  and  be  forever  incapable  to  inherit,  possess,  or  enjoy  the 
Crown  and  government  of  this  realm,  and  Ireland,  and  the  domin- 
ions thereunto  belonging,  or  any  part  of  the  same,  or  to  have,  use, 
or  exercise  any  regal  power,  authority,  or  jurisdiction  within  the 
same  ;  and  in  all  and  every  such  case  or  cases,  the  people  of  these 
realms  shall  be  and  are  hereby  absolved  of  their  allegiance  ;  and  the 
said  Crown  and  government  shall  from  time  to  time  descend  to, 
and  be  enjoyed  by,  such  person  or  persons,  being  I*rotestants,  as 
should  have  inherited  and  enjoyed  the  same,  in  case  the  said  per- 
son or  persons  so  reconciled,  holding  communion,  or  professing,  or 
marrying  as  aforesaid,  were  naturally  dead. 

X.  And  that  every  king  and  queen  of  this  realm,  who  at  any 
time  hereafter  shall  come  to  and  succeed  in  the  Imperial  Crown 
of  this  kingdom,  shall,  on  the  iirst  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  first 
parliament,  next  after  his  or  her  coming  to  the  Crown,  sitting  in 
his  or  her  throne  in  the  House  of  Peers,  in  the  presence  of  the  Lords 
and  Ct)nnnon3  therein  assembled,  or  at  his  or  her  coronation, 
before  such  person  or  persons  who  shall  administer  the  coronation 


APPENDIX   C.  393 

oath  to  him  or  her,  at  the  time  of  his  or  her  taking  tlie  said  oath 
(which  shall  first  happen),  make,  subscribe,  and  audibly  repeat 
the  declaration  mentioned  in  the  statute  made  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II  intituled  'An  Act  for  the 
more  effectual  preserving  the  King's  person  and  government,  by 
disabling  Papists  from  sitting  in  either  House  of  Parliament.'  But 
if  it  shall  happen,  that  such  king  or  queen,  upon  his  or  her  succes- 
sion to  the  crown  of  this  realm,  shall  be  under  the  age  of  twelve 
years,  then  every  such  king  or  queen  shall  make,  subscribe,  and 
audibly  repeat  the  said  declaration  at  his  or  her  coronation,  or  the 
first  day  of  meeting  of  the  first  parliament  as  aforesaid,  which  shall 
first  happen  after  such  king  or  queen  shall  have  attained  the  said 
age  of  twelve  years. 

XI.  All  which  their  Majesties  are  contented  and  pleased  shall 
be  declared,  enacted,  and  established  by  authority  of  this  present 
parliament,  and  shall  stand,  remain,  and  be  the  law  of  this  realm 
forever ;  and  the  same  are  by  their  said  Majesties,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Com- 
mons, in  parliament  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same, 
declared,  enacted,  or  established  accordingly. 

XII.  And  be  it  further  declared  and  enacted  by  the  avithority 
aforesaid,  That  from  and  after  this  present  session  of  parliament, 
no  dispensation  by  non  obstante  of  or  to  any  statute,  or  any  part 
thereof,  shall  be  allowed,  but  the  same  shall  be  held  void  and  of  no 
effect,  except  a  dispensation  be  allow^ed  of  in  such  statute,  and 
except  in  such  cases  as  shall  be  specially  provided  for  by  one  or 
more  bill  or  bills,  to  be  passed  during  this  present  session  of  parlia- 
ment. 

XIII.  Provided  that  no  charter,  or  grant,  or  pardon  gi-anted 
before  the  three  and  twentieth  day  of  October,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  One  thousand  six  hundred  eighty-nine,  shall  be  any  ways 
impeached  or  invalidated  by  this  act,  but  that  the  same  shall  be 
and  remain  of  the  same  force  and  effect  in  law,  and  no  other,  than 
as  if  this  act  had  never  been  made.  —  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  vi. 
142-145. 


APPENDIX  D. 


A   SUMMARY  OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

The  Constitution  is  in  seven  articles.  The  first  article  relates 
to  the  organization  and  powers  of  Congress,  which  consists  of  a 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Representatives  are  to  be 
inhabitants  of  the  State  for  which  they  are  chosen,  to  be  twenty- 
five  years  old  at  least,  and  are  to  serve  two  years.  Each  House  of 
Representatives  thus  lasts  two  years,  and  this  period  is  usually 
known  as  a  Congress :  the  fiftieth  Congress  expired  March  4,  1889, 
having  completed  the  first  century  of  the  Constitution.  Represen- 
tatives are  assigned  to  States  in  proportion  to  the  population,  and 
this  fact  forced  the  provision  for  a  decennial  census,  the  first 
appearance  of  such  a  provision  in  modern  national  history.  Be- 
sides the  Representatives  from  the  States,  a  few  delegates  from  the 
Territories  have  seats  in  Congress,  possessing  the  right  to  debate 
but  not  to  vote.  The  House  elects  its  Speaker  and  other  officers, 
and  has  the  power  of  impeachment. 

The  legislature  of  each  State  elects  two  Senators,  to  serve  for 
six  years  ;  and  no  State  can  be  deprived  of  its  equal  share  of  repre- 
sentation, except  by  its  own  consent.  The  Senators  are  divided 
into  three  classes,  the  term  of  one  class  expiring  every  two  years. 
Senators  are  to  be  at  least  thirty  years  old,  and  must  be  inhabitants 
of  the  States  from  which  they  are  chosen,  and  citizens  of  the  United 
States  for  at  least  nine  years  previous  to  their  election.  The  Vice- 
President  presides  over  the  Senate,  having  no  vote  unless  in  case 
of  an  equal  division. 

All  officers  of  the  United  States  are  open  to  impeachment  by  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  impeachment  to  be  tried  by  the 
Senate,  and  the  penalty  to  be  no  more  than  removal,  and  disquali- 
fication to  serve  further  under  the  United  States.  When  the 
President  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  presides . 


APPENDIX  D.  395 

The  members  of  both  Houses  are  privileged  from  arrest  and 
from  being  questioned  elsewhere  for  words  spoken  in  debate.  Each 
House  passes  on  the  election  of  its  own  members  ;  but  an  Act  of 
Congress  may  control  the  Acts  of  the  State  Legislature  as  to  time, 
place,  and  manner  of  elections,  except  as  to  the  place  of  choosing 
Senators,  in  which  the  Legislature  remains  supreme.  The  two 
Houses  cannot  adjourn  to  another  place,  or  for  more  than  three 
days,  unless  by  common  consent.  Their  members  are  paid  by  the 
United  States,  and  must  not  be  office-holders  or  receive  any  office 
created  or  increased  in  pay  during  their  term  of  service  in  Congress. 

"When  a  bill  passes  both  Houses  it  goes  to  the  President.  If  he 
signs  it,  it  becomes  law.  If  he  holds  it  without  signing  for  ten  days 
(Sundays  excepted)  it  becomes  law,  unless  the  final  adjournment 
of  Congress  comes  in  the  ten  days.  If  the  President  decides  to 
veto  a  bill  he  returns  it,  with  a  statement  of  his  objections,  to  the 
House  in  which  it  originated.  It  can  then  only  become  law  by  the 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  Houses. 

The  powers  of  Congress  are :  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties, 
imposts,  and  excises ;  to  borrow  money ;  to  regulate  foreign  and 
domestic  commerce ;  to  make  rules  for  naturalization  and  bank- 
ruptcy laws ;  to  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  of  foreign  coins, 
and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  ;  to  punish  the  coun- 
terfeiting of  Federal  securities  and  current  coin  ;  to  establish  post- 
offices  and  post- roads  ;  to  establish  patent  and  copyright  systems  ; 
to  establish  courts  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court ;  to  punish 
offences  on  the  high  seas  or  against  international  law ;  to  declare 
war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules  for 
captures ;  to  raise  and  support  armies,  no  appropriation  to  be  for 
more  than  two  years  ;  to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ;  to  make 
articles  of  war ;  to  use  the  militia  of  the  States  in  executing  Federal 
laws,  suppressing  insurrections  and  repelling  invasions  ;  to  provide 
for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  this  militia,  leaving  the 
States  to  appoint  the  officers  and  carry  out  the  system  ;  to  establish 
a  national  capital  or  Federal  district,  and  to  exercise  exclusive 
powers  of  legislation  over  it,  and  over  sites  for  forts,  dock-yards, 
etc.,  bought  by  permission  of  the  States;  and  finally,  to  make  all 
laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execu- 
tion the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any 
department  or  office  thereof. 

The  following  prohibitions  must  also  be  noted :   The  Federal 


396  APPENDIX  D. 

Government  shall  not  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  except  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  when  the  public 
safety  requires  it.  Congress  must  not  pass  any  bill  of  attainder 
or  ex  post  facto  law,  tax  exports,  give  commercial  preference  to  the 
ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another,  lay  direct  taxes  except  in 
proportion  to  census  population,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 
Money  is  to  be  taken  from  the  treasury  only  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law.  And  no  person  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  may  accept  any  gift  or  title  from  a  foreign  power 
without  consent  of  Congress.  The  States  are  forbidden  to  make 
treaties,  to  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  to  coin  money,  to 
emit  bills  of  credit,  to  make  anything  but  silver  a  legal  tender,  to 
gi-ant  any  title  of  nobility,  to  pass  a  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto 
law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts.  They  are  for- 
bidden (excejit  by  consent  of  Congi'ess)  to  lay  any  duties  on 
imports  or  exports,  except  inspection  charges,  to  be  paid  into  the 
Federal  treasury ;  to  lay  any  tonnage  duties ;  to  keep  troops  (a 
word  which  does  not  cover  militia)  or  ships  in  peace  ;  to  make  any 
agi'eement  with  another  State  or  with  a  foreign  power ;  or  to  engage 
in  war  unless  actually  invaded. 

The  President  is  to  be  a  native  citizen,  at  least  thirty- five  years 
old,  and  at  least  fourteen  years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 
lie  is  paid  by  the  United  States ;  and  his  salary  is  not  to  be 
increased  or  diminished  by  Congress,  during  his  term.  He  is  sworn 
to  execute  his  office  faithfully,  and  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In  case  of  his  death,  resig- 
nation, or  inability  (by  impeachment  or  otherwise),  the  Vice- 
President  succeeds  him  ;  and  in  case  of  the  inabiUty  of  both,  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet  succeed  in  a  prescribed  order  (according 
to  the  Presidential  Succession  Act  of  1886).  The  President  has 
the  veto  power  already  described,  sends  messages  to  Congi-ess  on 
the  state  of  the  Union  or  on  special  subjects,  convenes  either  House 
or  both  on  extraordinary  occasions,  receives  foreign  envoys,  com- 
missions officers  of  the  United  States,  and  oversees  the  execution 
of  tlie  laws  passed  by  Congress.  He  makes  treaties  ;  but  no  treaty 
is  valid  unless  passed  by  the  Senate  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  those 
present.  He  appoints  ministers  and  consuls,  judges,  and  all  other 
officers  whose  appointment  Congi-ess  has  not  vested  in  other 
officers  ;  but  presidential  appointments  must  be  confirmed  by  the 
Senate,  though  the  President  may  make  temporary  appointments 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  to  hold  until  the  end  of  their  next 


APPENDIX  D.  397 

session.  He  is  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  and 
has  power  of  pardon  or  reprieve  for  offences  against  Federal  laws, 
except  in  case  of  impeachment.  And  he  may  call  on  each  liead  of 
a  department  for  an  opinion  in  writing  on  any  subject  relating  to 
his  department.  Tlie  last  clause  has  evolved  the  Cabinet,  a  term 
not  known  in  the  Constitution.  When  Congress  has  by  law  organ- 
ized a  department,  its  leading  officer  is  called  its  Secretary.  There 
are  now  eight  departments, — those  of  state,  of  the  treasury,  of 
war,  of  the  navy,  of  the  post-office,  of  the  interior,  of  justice,  and 
of  agriculture.  The  Secretaries  are  selected  by  the  President  and 
are  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  but  are  not  responsible  to  any  one 
but  the  President.  Nor  is  he  bound  by  their  individual  opinions, 
or  even  by  a  unanimous  opinion  from  one  of  their  periodical  meet- 
ings.    They  are  his  advisers  only. 

The  people  have  no  direct  vote  in  the  choice  of  President  and 
Vice-President :  they  choose  Electors,  each  State  having  as  many 
Electors  as  it  has  Senators  and  Representatives  together ;  and  the 
Electors  choose  the  President  and  Vice-President.  The  Electors 
are  to  be  chosen  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  of  each  State 
shall  direct ;  and  this  plenary  power  of  the  Legislatures  was  the 
source  of  the  unhappy  disputed  election  of  1876-7.  Until  1887 
Congress  refused  to  provide  for  necessary  proof  of  the  State's 
action,  and  claimed  the  power  to  provide  from  time  to  time  for 
emergencies.  Now,  provision  is  made  by  the  Electoral  Count  Act 
of  1887,  for  the  State's  certification  of  its  votes ;  and  the  certificate 
which  comes  in  legal  form  is  not  to  be  rejected  but  by  a  vote  of 
both  Houses.  H  there  is  no  majority  of  electoral  votes  for  Presi- 
dent, the  House  of  Representatives  chooses  one  from  the  three 
names  highest  on  the  list,  each  State  having  one  vote.  The 
Electors  were  meant  to  exercise  perfect  freedom  of  choice,  an 
intention  at  present  completely  frustrated. 

The  Constitution  pro\ddes  for  one  Supreme  Court,  having  original 
jurisdiction  in  cases  affecting  foreign  ministers  and  consuls,  and 
those  to  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  and  appellate  jurisdiction 
from  such  subordinate  Courts  as  Congress  shall  from  time  to  time 
establish.  Judges  are  to  hold  office  during  good  behavior,  and  their 
salaries  are  not  to  be  diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 
Federal  Courts  deal  with  all  cases  in  law  or  equity  arising  under 
the  Constitution,  or  the  laws  of  treaties  made  under  it ;  with  all 
'cases  affecting  public  ministers  and  consuls,  or  admiralty  or  mari- 
time law ;  with  suits  by  or  against  the  United  States ;  and  with 


SyV  APPENDIX  D. 

suits  by  one  State  against  another,  by  a  State  against  citizens  of 
another  State,  by  a  citizen  of  one  State  against  a  citizen  of  another, 
by  a  citizen  of  a  State  against  citizens  of  his  own  State  when  the 
question  is  one  of  a  grant  of  land  from  different  States,  by  a  State 
or  its  citizens  against  foreigners,  or  by  a  foreigner  against  an 
American.  The  Supreme  Court  now  consists  of  a  Chief  Justice 
and  eight  Associate  Justices ;  below  this  there  are  nine  Circuit 
Courts,  each  consisting  of  a  Supreme  Court  Justice  and  a  Circuit 
Judge ;  and  fifty-six  District  Courts,  each  with  a  District  Judge. 
Each  Circuit  comprises  several  States ;  and  the  Supreme  Court 
Justices,  in  addition  to  their  Circuit  work,  meet  in  bank  annually 
in  Washington.  The  Districts  cover  each  a  State,  or  a  part  of  a 
State.  The  Federal  Courts  are  the  principal  agent  in  securing  the 
power  of  the  national  government  over  individuals ;  and  a  most 
important  agent  in  securing  to  the  national  government  its  su- 
premacy over  the  States.  A  most  important  provision  of  the 
Constitution  is  the  grant  of  jurisdiction  to  Federal  Courts  in  cases 
involving  the  construction  of  the  Constitution,  or  of  laws  or  treaties 
made  under  it.  It  was  not  until  1816  that  the  right  of  the  Federal 
Courts  to  exercise  this  power  was  clearly  established,  and  the 
Constitution  thus  became  what  it  professed  to  be,  "the  supreme 
law  of  the  land." 

The  States  are  bound  to  give  credit  to  the  public  records  of 
other  States,  to  accord  citizenship  to  the  citizens  of  other  States, 
to  return  criminals  fleeing  from  other  States,  and  to  return  "per- 
sons held  to  service  or  labor"  under  the  laws  of  another  State. 
The  Federal  government  is  to  guarantee  a  republican  form  of 
government  to  each  of  the  States,  and  to  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion,  or,  on  application  of  the  Legislature  or  Governor, 
against  domestic  violence.  The  Constitution  provides  that  it  is  to 
go  into  force  as  soon  as  nine  of  the  thirteen  States  shall  ratify  it, 
and  that  any  future  amendment,  when  passed  by  two-thirds  of 
both  Houses,  and  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  or  conventions  of 
three- fourths  of  the  States,  shall  become  a  part  of  the  Constitution. 
By  application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  tlie  States,  a  new 
convention,  like  that  which  framed  the  Constitution,  may  take  the 
place  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  in  proposing  amendments. 

Ten  amendments  were  adopted  so  soon  after  the  ratification  of 
the  Constitution  that  they  may  fairly  be  considered  a  part  of  the 
original  instrument.  They  were  due  to  a  general  desire  for  a 
"Bill  of  Bights."      They  state  expressly  the  general  principle 


APPENDIX  E.  399 

already  given,  that  the  Federal  government  is  restricted  to  granted 
powers,  while  those  not  mentioned  are  reserved  "to  the  States 
respectively  or  to  the  people."  Somewhat  later  came  the  Xlth 
Amendment,  affecting  the  judicial  power,  and  the  Xllth  affecting 
the  Electoral  College.  By  the  Xinth,  XlVth,  and  XVth,  adopted 
since  the  Civil  "War,  slavery  was  swept  away,  national  authority 
magnified  against  State  assumption,  and  the  right  to  vote  secured 
to  all  citizens  without  account ' '  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition 
of  servitude." 

The  Constitution  was  meant  only  as  a  scheme  in  outline,  to  be 
filled  up  afterwards  and  from  time  to  time,  by  legislation.  The 
idea  is  most  plainly  carried  out  in  the  Federal  justiciary  ;  but  it  is 
visible  in  every  department.  It  has  carried  the  Constitution  safely 
through  a  century  which  has  radically  altered  every  other  civilized 
government.  The  members  of  the  convention  of  1787  showed  their 
wisdom  most  plainly  in  not  trying  to  do  too  much;  if  they  had 
done  more  they  would  have  done  less. 


APPENDIX  E. 


SUMMAKY  OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  CANADA. 

The  Dominion  of  Canada  consists  of  the  seven  federated  Prov- 
inces, —  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward's 
Island,  Ontario,  Manitoba,  and  British  Colimibia,  together  with 
vast  unorganized  territories. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  British  North  American 
Act  of  1867,  which  regulates  the  Constitution  of  Canada,  the 
Imperial  Parliament  bestows  upon  the  Dominion  a  government 
controlled  by  a  Parliament,  consisting  of  the  Governor-General  as 
representative  of  the  Queen  of  England,  a  Senate,  and  a  House  of 
-Commons.  The  appointment  of  a  Governor- General  and  of  a 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  Canada 
are  the  only  exercise  of  authority  in  Canadian  affairs  beyond  the 
control  of  the  Canadian  Parliament ;  and  the  one  reminder  left  to 
show  that  the  age  of  colonial  tutelage  is  not  entirely  outgrown. 

The  Senate  comprises  seventy-eight  members.      Each  Senator 


400  APPENDIX  E. 

must  be  at  least  thirty  years  old,  a  native-bom  or  naturalized  sub- 
ject of  Great  Britain,  and  the  possessor  of  property  in  his  own 
Province  to  the  value  of  §4000,  over  and  above  his  debts  and  lia- 
bilities. Appointment  to  the  Senate  rests  nominally  with  the 
Crown,  but  virtually  with  the  ministry  of  the  Dominion  ;  for  under 
"responsible  government,"  the  premier  pro  tern,  governs.  Sena- 
torial appointments  are  for  life  unless  the  appointee  resigns,  turns 
traitor,  becomes  bankrupt,  or  forswears  allegiance  to  the  Crown 
of  England.! 

The  number  of  members  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  not  fixed 
definitely,  as  in  the  membership  of  the  Upper  House,  but  varies 
with  the  returns  of  the  decennial  census.  Quebec  has  sixty-five 
members  in  the  Commons,  and  this  number  remains  the  same 
whatever  may  be  the  change  of  population  in  that  Province ;  and 
the  proportion  this  number  of  members  bears  to  the  number  of  the 
population  of  Quebec,  after  the  census  of  that  Province  is  taken, 
determines  the  members  to  be  returned  by  the  whole  country  ;  as 
each  Province  is  entitled  to  send  members  to  Parliament  in  the 
same  ratio  to  its  number  of  inhabitants  that  sixty- five  bears  to  the 
population  of  the  Province  of  Quebec.  At  present  Quebec  has  a 
member  for  every  20,900  of  her  population ;  the  other  Provinces 
have  members  in  the  same  proportion,  except  certain  less  populous 
Provinces  that  were  specially  excepted.  The  total  number  of 
Representatives  at  present  is  two  hundred  and  ten.  The  voting 
for  members  of  Parliament  is  by  ballot,  practically  almost  every 
owner  or  occupant  of  a  house  possessing  the  suffrage. 

The  Governor- General,  like  the  constitutional  sovereign  he  repre- 
sents, keeps  aloof  from  party  in  the  state.  He  governs  solely 
through  his  Ministers,  who  are  his  advisers ;  and  so  long  as  they 
have  a  majority  of  the  people's  Representatives  at  their  back,  he 
must  hearken  to  their  counsel.  In  this  he  has  no  choice.  In  the 
most  extreme  case,  the  utmost  stretch  of  his  authority  only  permits 
him  to  exercise  the  royal  prerogative,  dismiss  his  Ministers,  dissolve 
the  Parliament,  and  obtain  a  new  expression  of  the  will  of  the 
people.  In  a  constitutional  way,  as  advised  by  the  Ministry,  he 
speaks  as  with  the  voice  of  the  nation  ;  were  he  to  speak  otlierwise, 
his  words  would  have  no  autliority.     Each  Minister  of  the  Crown 

^  The  Senate  of  Canada,  like  the  Upper  Houses  in  general  of  the  British 
Empire,  is  weak.  A  tendency  prevails  in  the  Empire  to  exchange  the  nominated 
for  elective  Upper  Houses;  sometimes  the  Upper  House  is  dispensed  with 
•ntirely.    Dilke:  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  p.  505. 


APPENDIX  E.  401 

is  required  to  have  a  seat  in  Parliament ;  as  tlie  Lower  House 
controls  the  finance,  the  Ministers  of  the  more  important  depart- 
ments are  generally  members  of  that  House,  in  order  there  fully 
to  explain  the  operations  of  their  departments. 

The  public  business  controlled  by  the  Dominion  government  is 
transacted  through  thirteen  departments,  each  of  which  is  con- 
trolled by  a  member  of  the  Ministry.  1.  The  Interior ;  2.  Finance  ; 
3.  Public  Works;  4.  State;  5.  Kailways  and  Canals;  0.  Agricul- 
ture ;  7.  Postal-service  ;  8.  Justice ;  9.  Marine  and  Fisheries ; 
10.  Customs ;  11.  Inland  Revenue ;  12.  Militia  and  Defence ; 
13.  That  of  President  of  the  Council.  The  branches  of  public 
business  coming  under  control  of  the  Dominion  government  are  : 
management  of  trade,  commerce,  indirect  taxation,  and  the  public 
debt ;  postal-service ;  the  census  and  statistics ;  militia  and  defence ; 
payment  of  public  officers ;  lighthouses,  navigation,  shipping,  and 
quarantine ;  fisheries ;  currency,  banking,  coinage,  and  legal  tender ; 
weights  and  measures ;  bankruptcy ;  patents  and  inventions ; 
natm-alization  laws  and  laws  of  divorce  ;  penitentiaries  and  crimi- 
nal law  ;  railways,  canals,  and  telegraphs,  if  extending  beyond  the 
limits  of  a  single  Province  ;  and,  in  general,  "such  classes  of  sub- 
jects as  are  expressly  excepted  in  the  enumeration  of  the  classes 
of  subjects,  by  this  Act  exclusively  assigned  to  the  Legislatures  of 
the  Provinces." 

A  Lieutenant-Governor  for  each  Province  is  appointed  by  the 
Dominion  government.  Each  Province,  moreover,  has  a  Legisla- 
ture :  in  Ontario,  Manitoba,  and  British  Columbia,  the  Legislature 
consists  of  a  single  chamber  of  Representatives,  elected  by  a  broad 
suffrage.  The  remaining  Provinces  have,  besides  the  popular 
chamber,  an  Upper  House  :  the  Upper  House,  in  the  case  of  Prince 
Edward's  Island,  like  the  popular  chamber,  is  elective ;  while  in 
the  case  of  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New  Brunswick,  it  is  nomi- 
nated. Each  Province  is  left  to  itself  to  regulate  such  affairs  as 
concern  itself  solely  ;  viz.,  the  management  of  its  public  lands,  the 
appointment  of  officers  of  justice,  except  judges  (who  are  appointed 
by  the  Dominion  government);  education;  asylums,  hospitals,  and 
charities ;  jails,  prisons,  and  reformatories,  except  penitentiaries ; 
municipal  institutions ;  shop,  tavern,  and  other  licenses ;  local 
works  ;  the  solemnization  of  marriages  ;  property  and  civil  rights  ; 
administration  of  justice  in  provincial  courts,  both  of  civil  and 
criminal  jurisdiction  ;  the  appointment  of  magistrates  and  justices- 
of-the-peace  ;  emigration  so  far  as  concerns  provincial  lands  ;  and 


402  APPENDIX  E. 

generally  all  matters  of  a  merely  local  and  private  nature.  No 
Province  has  the  power  to  organize  or  maintain  a  military  force ; 
and  the  Dominion  government  has  the  power  to  disallow  any 
enactments  of  the  local  Legislatures  which  are  ultra  vires.  In  each 
Province  the  Lieutenant-Governor  has  his  Ministry,  who  cannot 
remain  in  office  unless  sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  Representa- 
tives of  the  people.  The  machinery  of  government  is  directly 
responsive  to  public  opinion.  Publicists,  both  English  and  Ameri- 
can, have  referred  to  the  Canadian  system  as  virtually  one  of  the 
most  democratic  in  existence. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  as  regards  local  government,  there 
has  been  in  Canada  a  complete  revival  of  most  ancient  methods. 
In  the  local  government  of  Ontario,  called  by  Sir  Charles  Dilke  the 
best  in  the  world,  an  elected  Reeve  and  four  deputies  make  up  each 
township  council ;  and  the  Reeves,  each  with  his  four,  from  all  the 
townships  of  a  county,  assembling,  constitute  together  the  County- 
council,  which  thus  reproduces  the  old  shire-moot.  In  Quebec, 
also,  the  County-council  is  made  up  of  the  Mayors  of  the  munici- 
palities ;  but  in  Ontario  and  Manitoba  the  ancient  name  of  Reeve 
is  used.i 

The  main  difference  between  the  Constitutions  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States  is  that  in  Canada  the  central  power  is  far 
stronger.  The  Dominion  Parliament  keeps  in  its  own  hands  the 
criminal  law  and  that  of  divorce,  the  appointment  of  judges,  the 
nomination  of  the  Lieutenant-Governors  of  Provinces,  the  militia 
system,  —  all  of  which  belong  in  the  United  States  to  the  separate 
States.  The  Dominion  has  a  veto,  virtually  exercised  by  the 
Prime  Minister,  though  in  the  name  of  the  Crown,  upon  the  legis- 
lation of  the  Provinces.  No  such  veto  exists  in  the  United  States, 
if  the  local  laws  are  constitutional. 

Sir  Henry  Parkes,  premier  of  New  South  Wales,  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  the  Constitution  of  Canada  is  to  be  the 
model  for  federated  Australia.  2 

1  Problems  of  Greater  Britain,  p.  66.  *  Ibid.,  pp.  68,  69. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  Brooks,  in  Atlantic  Month- 
ly, cited  on  the  origin  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States, 
234. 

Adams,  Herbert  B.,  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins Historical  and  Political 
Tracts,  "  The  Germanic  Origin 
of  New  England  Towns,"  cited, 
116,  276. 

Adams,  John,  on  the  value  of  the 
New  England  town-meeting,  2M. 

Adams,  Samuel,  life  of,  by  the 
writer,  quoted,  on  the  "  Coming 
on  of  the  American  Revolution," 
199,  etc. ;  on  the  American  Tories, 
227,  etc. ;  on  the  New  England 
town-meeting,  278,  etc. 

Addison,  his  ''Remarks  on  Italy" 
quoted  on  the  political  compe- 
tency of  the  plain  people,  3.34. 

iEtheling,  an  Anglo-Saxon  noble, 
5. 

Agitators,  lower  council  of  the 
army  in  1647,  141. 

"Agreement  of  the  People,"  the 
first,  1647,  141,  etc. ;  the  second, 
1649,  152,  etc. 

Alabama,  local  government  in,  296. 

Alfred,  King,  his  conservative  in- 
stincts and  influence,  21. 

Allen,  W.  F.,  on  the  government 
of  American  cities,  2ft9. 

America,  discovered  at  a  critical 
period  for  Anglo-Saxon  freedom, 
93  (see  United  States). 

Anburey,  his  "Travels"  cited  on 
leadership  of  Massachusetts  in 
American  Revolution,  216. 

Anglo-Saxons,  their  primitive  home 
and  condition,  2,  etc. ;  their  con- 
quest of  Britain,  15,  etc.;  their 


conversion  to  Christianity,  19; 
development  of  their  polity,  20, 
etc. ;  influence  upon  them  of  the 
Danes,  22, 23 ;  their  array  at  Hast- 
ings, 31,  32;  their  prowess,  34; 
their  overthrow  by  the  Normans, 
35. 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  characteris- 
tics of,  4,  etc. ;  why  valuable, 
views  of  John  Stuart  Mill  and  J. 
Toulmin  Smith,  12,  etc.;  its  de- 
pression under  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor, 23 ;  its  submergence  at  the 
Norman  conquest,  38;  to  some 
extent  restored  through  Magna 
Charta,  51 ;  contended  for  by  Wat 
Tyler  and  the  peasants  in  the 
14th  century,  77;  by  Jack  Cade 
and  his  followers  in  the  15th  cen- 
tury, 89 ;  on  the  point  of  perish- 
ing under  Tudor  rule,  93;  and 
under  Stuart  rule,  109;  thor- 
oughly revived  by  the  Indepen- 
dents in  1647, 140,  etc. ;  depressed 
once  more  at  the  Restoration,  163 ; 
the  American  Revolution,  an  ef- 
fort for  its  vindication,  230;  es- 
tablished and  formulated  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
232,  etc. ;  its  educative  power  con- 
sidered by  Sir  T.  E.  May,  259;  by 
J.  Toulmin  Smith,  260;  restored 
to  England  and  her  dependencies 
since  Reform  Bill  of  1832  and  its 
successors,  263,  etc.;  adopted  in 
part  by  Europe  in  general,  271; 
possibility  of  its  adoption  in  In- 
dia, 272 ;  to  be  administered  only 
by  Anglo-Saxon  men,  272,  273, 
also  308 ;  destined  for  the  domin- 
ion of  the  world,  308,  etc.;  love 


404 


INDEX. 


for  it  of  the  plain  people,  327, 
328 ;  of  the  high-placed  and  culti- 
vated, 328,  etc. ;  connection  Mith 
it  of  the  hijih-placed  and  culti- 
vated sometimes  discreditable, 
332,  etc. ;  importance  of  a  spirit 
of  brotherhood  among  those  in- 
heriting it,  343,  etc. 

Anne,  Queen,  crisis  at  her  death, 
173. 

Arnold,  Sir  Edwin,  on  the  identity 
of  the  English-speaking  race,  317, 
318. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  on  the  identity 
of  the  English-speaking  race,  314  ; 
on  German  "  Corijoralism,"  331. 

Australia,  first  accurately  defined 
by  Captain  James  Cook,  247 ;  j^res- 
ent  condition  of,  249;  long  used 
as  a  prison,  2(;u ;  possesses  re- 
sponsible government,  2(>C>;  its 
federation  to  be  probably  on  the 
Canadian  model,  2()()  (note) ; 
practically  independent,  267  ;  ex- 
perience of,  with  large  cities,  2!K) ; 
embarrassments  of,  from  danger 
of  Chinese  encroachment,  322. 

Bacon,  I^ord,  his  "Essays"  cited, 
on  a  narrowing  of  sympathies, 

mi 

Bagehot,  his  "English  Constitu- 
tion" cited,  on  changes  in  the 
temper  of  Parliament  under  the 
Tudors  and  Stuarts,  107 ;  on  the 
fusion  of  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative powers  in  English  govern- 
ment, 242  (note)  ;  on  England  as  a 
"disguised  republic,"  251)  (note). 

Ball,  John,  liis  sermons  to  the  peas- 
ants in  tlie  14th  centurj^  74. 

Bancroft,  his  "  History  of  the 
United  States"  cited  on  causes 
of  American  Revolution,  lOS;  on 
derivation  of  English  Constitu- 
tion from  Anglo-Saxon  sources, 
213. 

Bath,  city  of,  as  illustrating  abuse 
of  borougli  representation  in 
18th  century,  183. 


Battle  Abbey,  present  appearance 
of,  29,  etc. 

Bayne,  Peter,  his  "Chief  Actors  of 
the  Puritan  Revolution"  cited, 
325. 

Belgium,  partially  adopts  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  271. 

Bemis,  E.  W.,  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies,  cited,  288, 
289,  2y(). 

Bewdley,  as  illustrating  abuses  of 
borough  representation  in  18th 
century,  183. 

Bill  of  Rights,  passed  by  Parlia- 
ment, 1()89,  107 ;  full  text  of.  Ap- 
pendix C. 

Birmingham,  city  of,  unrepresented 
'      in  18th  century,  183. 

Black  Death,  of  1348,  its  effect  on 
economic  condition  of  England, 
72. 

Blackstone,  his  "Commentaries" 
cited  on  Parliament's  freedom 
from  restraint,  233. 

Bluntschli,  cited,  on  value  of  town- 
meeting,  283. 

Board  of  Trade,  its  mistaken  policy 
in  ntli  and  ISth  centuries,  199. 

Borough,  a  more  strictly  organized 
township,  18 ;  character  and  polity 
of,  in  the  Norman  epoch,  45 ;  in- 
significance of  members  for,  iu 
the  early  Parliaments,  misfor- 
tunes of,  G();  largeness  of  life 
much  curtailed  in  15tli  century, 
87 ;  destruction  of  the  franchise 
in,  181 ;  "  rotten  boroughs,"  182  ; 
their  political  degradation  under 
George  HI,  183;  improved  condi- 
tion of,  at  the  present  time,  2(11. 

Briglit,  John,  on  England  and 
Anieri(;a  as  two  nations,  but  one 
people,  344. 

Brotherhood  of  English-speaking 
men,  views  of  J.  R.  Seeley,  ;M3; 
of  John  Bright,  of  Sir  Henry 
Parkes,  of  Goldwin  Smith,  of  Sir 
George  Grey,  344;  of  J.  C.  Firth, 
;545;  of  the  Westminster  Eeriew, 
reasons  for  its  expediency,  34G; 


INDEX. 


405 


as  keeping  vivid  Anglo-Saxon 
traditions,  352;  as  securing  An- 
glo-Saxon ascendency,  354 ;  as 
leading  toward  a  brotlierhood  of 
the  liunian  race,  •'j(>5,  etc. 

Browning,  Oscar,  his  "  Jlodern  Eng- 
land" cited  on  the  Reform  Bill 
of  18o2,  253. 

Brunswick,  House  of,  of  little  mark, 
but  pledged  to  constitutional  rule, 
173. 

Bryce,  James,  his  "  American  Com- 
monwealth" cited,  235,  237,  264, 
271,  27<1,  298,  300,  315,  310,  332; 
in  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Studies,  5th  series,  IX,  242. 

Buckingham,  as  illustrating  abuses 
of  borough  representation  in  18th 
century,  183. 

Buckle,  his  '"History  of  Civilization 
in  England"  cited  on  England 
as  saved  by  American  resistance 
in  American  Revolution,  225, 
231. 

Burgesses,  House  of,  in  Virginia, 
120;  its  indejiendent  temper,  125. 

Burke,  Edmund,  on  importance  of 
preserving  representative  charac- 
ter of  House  of  Commons,  188; 
his  speech  on  the  Stamp  Act,  208 ; 
his  doctrine  of  representation, 
211;  his  position  as  regards 
America,  222;  believes  England 
saved  by  American  resistance, 
222;  opposes  the  radicals,  223; 
consistent  in  opposing  French 
Revolution,  223 ;  laments  the  fall 
of  the  Bonrbons,  252. 

Bute,  shire  of,  as  illustrating  abuses 
of  representation  in  18th  century, 
185. 

Cabinet,  origin  and  importance  of, 
in  the  Englisli  polity,  174;  its 
great  modern  significance,  257. 

Camden,  Lord,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  his  speecli  on  the 
Stamp  Act,  20i):  his  position  not 
that  of  tlie  Colonies,  213;  calls 
Massachusetts  the  "  riucr-leading 


colony  "  in  American  Revolution, 
216. 

Canada,  why  it  remained  to  Eng- 
land in  American  Revolution, 
24(5;  influence  there  of  exiled 
American  Tories,  247 ;  present 
condition  of,  249;  long  neglect 
of,  by  tiie  home  government,  265 ; 
becomes  a  federation  with  re- 
sponsible government  in  1867, 
2<j6 ;  local  self-government  in,  its 
practical  independence,  267  (and 
note);  difficulties  before,  322; 
summary  of  Constitution  of.  Ap- 
pendix E. 

Carlyle,  his  "Life  and  Letters  of 
Cromwell "  cited,  161. 

Carnegie,  his  "  Triumpliant  De- 
mocracy," 328. 

Cass,  Lewis,  his  influence  in  devel- 
oping Michigan,  288. 

Catharine  II,  of  Russia,  has  ideas 
of  reform  in  18th  century,  251. 

Ceorls,  their  equality  in  primitive 
Anglo-Saxon  society,  3 ;  analo- 
gous in  condition  to  American 
citizen,  9;  they  sink  into  villein- 
age, 23. 

Chamberlain,  Mellen,  cited,  on  the 
legal  status  of  the  Thirteen  Colo- 
nies, 1!)4 ;  on  causes  of  American 
Revolution,  217;  on  tlie  American 
Revolution  as  a  strife,  not  of 
countries,  but  of  parties,  220. 

Chapter  House,  at  Westminster, 
first  home  of  Parliament,  67. 

Charles  I,  his  arbitrary  beginning, 
107,  108 ;  summons  the  Short  and 
the  Long  Parliament,  1640,  131 ; 
his  short-lived  prudence,  133; 
cliaracter  of  his  party,  KM,  etc. ; 
at  Edgehill,  137  ;  at  Xaseby,  138 ; 
his  duplicity  in  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  139 ;  denounced  in  Grand 
Army  Remonstrance,  148;  hisexe- 
cutiou,  154. 

Charles  II,  King  in  Scotland,  1649, 
157 ;  restored  to  English  throne, 
lf)60,  1()3;  benefits  coming  from 
his  bad  character,  165. 


406 


INDEX. 


Charters,  colonial,  originally  incor- 
porations of  trading  companies, 
"perverted"  into  constitutions, 
195,  234;  of  medifeval  guilds, 
their  relation  to  the  Rigid  Con- 
stitution, 2M. 

Chatham,  Pitt,  Earl  of,  his  speech 
on  the  Stamp  Act,  208  ;  his  posi- 
tion not  that  of  the  colonists,  213 ; 
strongly  their  friend,  believes 
their  cause  that  of  the  English 
Whigs,  221;  thought  English  free- 
dom was  saved  by  the  American 
Revolution,  222. 

China,  possible  perils  from,  to  An- 
glo-Saxon freedom,  854,  etc. 

Christian,  commentator  on  Black- 
stone,  cited,  232,  262. 

Church,  in  early  times  protects  the 
people,  49,  94,  95;  under  Henry 
VIII  divorced  from  Rome  and 
made  Anglican,  95;  its  subser- 
viency under  Henry  VIII,  96, 
97;  sanctions  the  jus  divinum 
under  the  Stuarts,  104 ;  its  char- 
acter under  Laud,  108;  its  devo- 
tion to  royalty  at  the  Restoration, 
163;  at  first  sustains  James  II, 
165 ;  sides  with  the  Tories,  170 ; 
hostile  to  Reform  Bill  of  18.32, 
254. 

Church,  Alfred,  his  "Henry  V" 
cited,  83. 

Cities,  their  satisfactory  adminis- 
tration in  England,  261 ;  their 
size  and  multiplication  in  the 
United  States,  299;  diiiiculties 
of  their  government,  300,  301 ; 
suggestions  as  to  improvement 
of,  302,  etc. ;  ideas  as  to,  of  Hon. 
Seth  Low,  302,  etc. ;  grounds  for 
a  hopeful  view,  304,  etc. 

Civil  War,  English,  breaks  out 
1642,  the  parties,  134,  l.'iG. 

Cobden,  on  a  reformed  upper  House 
for  Parliament,  261. 

Coleridge,  his  early  enthusiasm  for 
free  ideas,  251. 

Colonial  exhibition  of  1886,  scene 
at  opening  of,  269,   270;   as  an 


illustration  of  the  essential  iden- 
tity of  English-speaking  men, 
318,  etc. 

Colonies,  the  Thirteen,  their  estab- 
lishment in  America,  110,  etc.; 
their  condition  in  the  middle  of 
the  18th  century,  192,  etc. ;  they 
claim  to  owe  allegiance  to  King, 
not  Parliament,  but  are  not  con- 
sistent, 196;  the  ecclesiastical 
grievance,  197;  the  commercial 
grievance,  198 ;  their  welfare  sac- 
rificed to  English  advantage,  200 ; 
assert  through  Franklin,  in  1766, 
allegiance  to  King,  but  not  Par- 
liament, 202 ;  doubt  as  to  their 
constitutional  position,  202,  203; 
effect  upon,  of  fall  of  Quebec, 
203;  exasperated  by  Grenville's 
policy,  204,  etc. ;  their  position 
not  that  of  Pitt  and  Camden,  213 ; 
superior  in  political  wisdom  to 
the  mother-country,  214;  influ- 
enced by  a  discreditable  reason 
partly,  united  by  the  Stamp  Act 
in  resistance  to  England,  217 ; 
patriots  in,  embarrassed  by  the 
number  of  Tories,  225;  become 
the  United  States  with  small  con- 
stitutional cliaiige,  2.')5  ;  the  new 
colonial  empire  managed  on  dif- 
ferent principles,  24(j;  how  con- 
stituted, 246,  etc.,  2()4;  Sir  T. 
Erskine  May  on  freedom  of,  2()8. 

Comines,  Philippe  de,  on  English 
parliamentary  government  in 
15th  century,  84. 

Comitatus  (see  Gesitli). 

Commercial  class,  rises  in  impor- 
tance, for  the  most  part  non- 
conformists, recruited  by  foreign 
immigrants,  171 ;  tends  to  plutoc- 
racy, 175;  its  good  influence 
as  regards  freedom,  198;  its 
selfish  treatment  of  the  colonies, 
lf)9. 

Commons,  first  represented  in 
national  council  in  13th  century, 
57 ;  representation  fully  estab. 
lished  under  Edward  I,  (iO. 


INDEX. 


407 


Commons,  House  of,  definitely  sep- 
arated from  House  of  Lords,  68 ; 
becomes  the  active  and  aggres- 
sive force  of  Parliament,  81 ; 
ceases  to  be  fairly  representa- 
tive, 85 ;  its  character  depressed 
by  restriction  of  the  franchise, 
86;  preponderates  over  House 
of  Lords  under  the  Tudors,  98; 
gains  in  spirit  under  Elizabeth, 
103;  journal  of,  cited,  150,  154; 
abolishes  kingship  and  House  of 
Lords,  1649,  164;  its  decline  in 
character  during  18th  century, 
175;  a  majority  of,  returned  by 
154 ;  individuals,  186 ;  people  de- 
clare it  not  representative  of 
them,  189;  furnishes  model  for 
United  States  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, 240 ;  worst  corruption 
of,  in  1816,  252;  supremacy  of, 
established  in  1832,  becomes  then 
truly  representative,  255 ;  its  pres- 
ent omnipotence  in  English  poli- 
tics, 262  (see  also  Parliament) . 

Commonwealth,  English,  its  birth, 
career,  and  overthrow,  154,  etc. 

Congress,  its  resemblance  to  Par- 
liament, 240,  241. 

Connecticut,  agreement  of  the 
towns  Hartford,  Wethersfield, 
and  Windsor,  as  related  to  a 
Rigid  Constitution,  234. 

Constitution,  Federal,  of  the  United 
States,  uniqueness  of  the  idea, 
232;  its  value  in  a  polity,  2;33; 
its  origin,  234;  its  provisions  of 
English  derivation,  235,  236; 
the  President  the  King  of  the 
18th  century,  238;  Electoral 
College  borrowed  from  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  239;  Congress 
from  Parliament,  240;  Supreme 
Court  from  English  precedents, 
241 ;  admiration  for,  of  Sir  H. 
Maine,  244;  substantially  un- 
changed since  1789,  274;  a  sim- 
ilar one  some  day  expedient 
for  England,  263;  enthusiastic 
celebration  of  its  centennial  as  in- 


dicating respect  for  it,  327,  328; 
summary  of.  Appendix  D. 

Convocation,  assembly  of  the 
Church,  approves  absolutism  un- 
der James  I,  104. 

Cook,  Captain  James,  explores 
coasts  of  Australasia,  247. 

Coote,  H.  C,  his  "Romans  of 
Britain"  cited,  16,  17  (note). 

Coroner,  elected  in  the  shire-moot, 
115, 

Corruption,  of  Parliament,  in  18th 
century,  177,  etc.;  in  American 
cities,  300,  etc. ;  Dilke's  hopeful 
view  as  to  its  disappearance 
in  English-speaking  world,  307 
(note). 

Cortes,  the  national  assembly  of 
Spain,  62;  overthrown  in  16th 
century,  103. 

Cotton  and  Payne,  their  "  English 
Colonization  and  Dependence  " 
quoted,  272. 

County,  unimportant  in  New  Eng- 
land, 118;  important  in  Virginia, 
its  organization,  120;  scene  at 
court  of,  121 ;  important  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 127;  not  changed  at 
Revolution,  237  (see  also  Shire). 

County  Councils,  established  in 
England  in  1888,  significance  of, 
260. 

County  system,  of  local  self-govern- 
ment in  America,  277;  prevailed 
until  Civil  War  generally  in  the 
South,  294,  etc. 

Cowell,  his  "Interpreter"  advo- 
cates jus  divinum  under  James 
I,  104. 

Creighton,  M.,  his  "  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort  "  quoted,  58. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  named  "  Iron- 
side "  by  Prince  Rupert  at  Mars- 
ton  Moor,  at  Naseby,  138 ;  at  first 
not  in  favor  of  popular  govern- 
ment, 144;  reconciled  with  the 
array  December,  1647,  145 ;  his 
prowess  in  1648,  147;  his  Irish 
campaign,  danger  at  Dunbar, 
157 ;  victorious  there  and  at  Wor- 


408 


INDEX. 


cester,  158;  becomes  hostile  to 
the  Rump,  159;  dissolves  it, 
IGO;  as  Protector,  100;  Milton's 
panegyric  upon,  IGl. 
Curia  Regig,  King's  Court  under 
the  Norman  and  Angevin  Sover- 
eigns, 44. 

Dakota,  North  and  South,  local 
government  in,  294. 

Danes,  effect  of  their  incursions, 
22,  23. 

Declaration  of  Rights,  1688,  166, 
167. 

Deerfield,  Franklin  Co.,  Mass., 
town-meeting  at,  279,  etc. 

De  la  Mare,  Sir  Peter,  speaker  of 
the  Good  Parliament,  69. 

Democracy  (see  Plain  People). 

Denmark,  partially  adopts  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  271. 

De  Tocqueville,  on  the  Constitu- 
tion, 232,241;  on  value  of  New 
England  town-meeting,  2^3,  284  : 
on  feebleness  of  French  coloniza- 
tion, 288. 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  his  "  Problems 
of  Greater  Britain  "  cited,  266, 
267,  272,  299,  318,  328. 

Dissenters  (see  Non-conformists). 

Dobell,  Sidney,  his  Sonnets  quoted, 
350. 

Domesday  Book,  description  of,  40, 
41. 

Dunbar,  Cromwell's  victory  at,  158. 

East  India  Company,  chartered 
1600,  beginning  of  British  domin- 
ion in  India,  111. 

Eaton,  Dorman  B.,  cited,  188. 

Edgt'hill,  battle  of,  1642,  137. 

Edinburgh,  restriction  of  the  fran- 
chise in  18th  century,  184. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  decay  under 
him  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polity, 
23. 

Edward  I,  importance  of  his  influ- 
ence, 59;  liis  character,  60;  great 
development  under  him  of  repre- 
sentative government,  61. 


Edward  II,  deposed  by  Parliament, 

1327,  68. 

Edward  III,  growth  of  power  of 
Parliament  under,  69. 

Edward  IV,  decay  of  power  of  Par- 
liament under,  92. 

Elbe,  country  near  mouth  of,  the 
primitive  Anglo-Saxon  home,  de- 
scribed, 2. 

Electoral  College,  borrowed  from 
Holy  Roman  Empire  for  Federal 
Constitution,  a  failure  in  prac- 
tice, 239. 

Eliot,  President,  of  Harvard,  on 
the  success  of  democracy,  336, 
etc. 

Elizabeth,  accedes,  1558,  rising 
temper  of  Parliament  under,  99; 
her  character  and  rule,  100;  ef- 
fect of  her  popularity,  102. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  on  the 
value  of  the  New  England  town- 
meeting,  284. 

England,  its  germ  in  the  ancient 
Teutonic  communities,  10;  its  un- 
broken development  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  15 ;  its  fitness  for  repre- 
sentative government  in  1265,  54, 
55;  freedom  preserved  to  it  by 
American  Revolution,  222;  its 
masses  pro-American  in  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  224;  its  great- 
ness apparently  destroyed  by  loss 
of  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  245;  ac- 
quires at  once  a  new  colonial  em- 
pire, 246;  much  sympathy  in,  at 
first,  for  the  French  Revolution, 
251;  reaction  from  this,  252;  be- 
comes in  modern  times  practi- 
cally a  republic,  263 ;  present  em- 
barrassments of,  from  the  Irish 
question,  322,  323;  love  in,  for 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  328. 

Earl,  Anglo-Saxon  noble,  5. 

Farmers,  rise  of  class  of,  in  14th 
century,  71. 

Feudalism,  rise  of,  among  the  Sax- 
ons, 22,  23;  its  Prankish  and 
Norman  development,  39;  estab- 


INDEX. 


409 


lishment  of  the  latter  in  Eng- 
land, 40;  in  full  sway  under  Ste- 
phen, 43. 

Filmer,  Sir  Robert,  his  absolutist 
theories,  164. 

Firth,  J.  C,  of  New  Zealand,  on  a 
coming  brotherhood  of  English- 
speaking  men,  345;  on  the  Chi- 
nese, 355,  356. 

Folk-moot  (see  Moot). 

Fortescue,  Sir  John,  on  Lancas- 
trian England,  84,  179. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  believes  Eng- 
lish freedom  preserved  by  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  222;  eulogizes 
Montgomery,  American  general 
killed  at  Quebec,  224;  favors 
parliamentary  reform,  250;  fa- 
vors self-government  in  colonies. 
264. 

France,  dying  out  in,  of  popular 
freedom,  168 ;  saves  cause  of  the 
colonies  in  American  Revolution, 
226;  contrast  between  her  con- 
stitution-makers and  those  of 
America,  23C>;  rejoices  in  appar- 
ent downfall  of  England  in 
American  Revolution,  245;  ex- 
cesses of  Revolution  in,  arrest 
the  progress  of  reform  in  Eng- 
land, 250,  251;  partially  adopts 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  271;  insta- 
bility of  her  freedom,  353. 

Franchise,  right  of,  held  by  the 
ceorls,  5;  interfered  with  by  in- 
cipient feudalism,  23;  possessed 
as  to  local  matters  by  the  people, 
under  the  Norman  Kings,  52;  pos- 
sessed by  the  yeomen  as  to  dic- 
tion of  knights-of-the-shire,  (io; 
greatly  restricted  in  1429,  86,  87  ; 
people  try  to  vindicate  it  under 
Jack  Cade,  90;  broad  franchise 
proposed  by  the  English  Com- 
monwealth, 153 ;  ■  causes  of  its 
great  limitation  in  the  shires 
after  1688,  179.  180:  in  the  bor- 
oughs, 181,  182  ;  A.  Bland,  of  Vir- 
ginia, on,  in  Great  Britain,  213: 
its  educative    effect    after  J8o2, 


255 ;  its  extension  in  England  at 
present,  258. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  at  the  bar  of 
the  House  of  Commons  in  1766, 
202. 

Franks,  their  origin  and  polity,  38, 
39. 

Frederick  II  (Hohenstauf en) ,  insti- 
tutes in  Italy  popular  assemblies, 
62. 

Freedom  (see  Anglo-Saxon  Free- 
dom). 

Free-laborers,  rise  of  class  of,  72. 

Friends  of  the  People,  democratic 
society  at  end  of  the  18th  cen- 
tury, 250. 

Freeman,  E.  A.,  cited,  2,  7,  9, 10,  53, 
86,  116,  118,  119,  256. 

Froissart,  his  "  Chronicles  "  on  the 
Peasant  Rebellion  in  the  15th 
century,  74. 

Fronde,  on  benefit  to  individuals 
from  unification  of  nations,  3()8. 

Galloway,  an  American  Tory,  tes- 
tifies in  House  of  Commons  as  to 
strength  of  his  party,  226. 

Galpin,  S.  A.,  in  Walker's  Statisti- 
cal Atlas,  cited,  276. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.,  cited,  98, 133,  138, 
152,  156. 

George  III,  his  education  and  char- 
acter, 218,  219;  his  embarrass- 
ments in  dealing  with  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies,  221,  etc. 

George,  Henry,  on  decay  of  the  me- 
diaeval yeomen,  135;  his  scheme 
of  land-holding  a  revival  of  the 
primitive  tenure,  262. 

Germany,  its  partial  adoption  of 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  271;  its 
present  greatness  due  rather  to 
its  rulers  than  its  people,  330, 
331. 

Gesith,  retinue  of  the  heretoga,  7 ; 
gives  rise  to  the  thegns,  19. 

Gladstone,  concedes  to  America  the 
primacy  among  English-speaking 
lands,  312 ;  on  jealousy  and  fear 
of  liberty  at  Oxford  University, 


410 


INDEX. 


333 ;  on  coming  greatness  of  Eng- 
land and  Russia,  357. 

Glasgow,  restriction  of  franchise 
in,  in  18th  century,  184. 

Gneist,  Rudolph,  his  constitutional 
history  cited,  2,  96,  162. 

Godwin,  William,  his  "History  of 
the  Commonwealth  "  cited,  144. 

Goethe,  on  a  narrow  national  feel- 
ing, 365. 

Gordon,  his  "  History  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States," 
on  a  New  England  town-meeting, 
117,  118. 

Grace,  ex-mayor  of  New  York,  on 
municipal  government,  302. 

Grand  Remonstrance,  of  the  Long 
Parliament,  November,  1641,  133. 

Grand  Army  Remonstrance,  1647, 
147,  etc. 

Greeks,  ignorant  of  representation, 
7. 

Green,  John  Richard,  his  "  History 
of  the  English  People,"  "  Short 
History  of  the  English  People," 
and  "  Making  of  England,"  cited, 
3,  16,  68,  70,  75,  79,  84,  97,  105, 
178,  189,  309. 

Green,  Thomas  Hill,  his  "  Works  " 
quoted  on  the  results  of  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth,  162. 

Grenville,  George,  enforces  rffveuue 
laws  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies, 
204;  believes  the  American  cause 
anti-Whig,  222. 

Grey,  Earl,  supporter  of  the  Re- 
form Bill  of  1832,  254. 

Grey,  Sir  George,  on  a  league  of 
the  English-speaking  race,  344. 

Guizot,  his  "  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish Revolution,"  cited,  145;  on 
necessity  to  existence  of  the 
United  States,  of  preserving  Eng- 
lish traditions,  324. 

Hallam,  his  "  Middle  Ages  "  cited, 
7;  his  "Constitutional  History" 
cited,  164. 

Hammond,  Dr.  W.  (i.,  denies  pres- 
ence of  representation  in  early 


Anglo-Saxon  polity,  6  (note) ;  on 
the  value  of  a  Rigid  Constitution, 
233. 

Hampden,  John,  parliamentary 
leader  in  1640,  131;  his  popular- 
ity, his  views,  his  death,  137. 

Harold,  his  accession,  24;  his  em- 
barrassments at  Hastings,  28; 
his  appearance  and  character,  31 ; 
his  death,  35. 

Hastings,  present  appearance  of 
battle-field  of,  importance  of  the 
battle,  25. 

Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles 
I,  132. 

Henry  I,  character  of  his  rule, 
43. 

Henry  II,  puts  down  feudalism,  43; 
establishes  the  jury-system  in 
England,  44,  45. 

Henry  HI,  confirms  Magna  Charta, 
50;  defeated  at  Lewes  by  Simon 
de  Moutfort,  57. 

Henry  IV,  power  of  Parliament  at 
time  of  his  accession,  81. 

Henry  V,  his  popular  and  heroic 
qualities,  82;  his  democratic 
spirit,  83. 

Henry  VI,  growth  of  idea  of  jus 
divinum  under,  86. 

Henry  VII,  weakness  of  the  nobil- 
ity under,  94. 

Henry  VIII,  great  increase  of  royal 
power  under,  94 ;  strikes  down 
the  Church, 95 ;  his  character  and 
influence,  96,  etc. 

Heretoga,  the  primitive  army-lead- 
er, 7. 

High  Commission,  Court  of,  its  es- 
tablishment and  character,  101, 
102;  its  activity  under  the  Stu- 
arts, 106. 

Holland,  its  ocean-war  with  the 
Commonwealth,  158;  an  oligar- 
chy at  end  of  17th  century,  168; 
partially  adopts  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
stitutions, 271. 

Howard,  George  E.,  his  "Introduc- 
tion to  the  Local  Constitutional 
History  of  the  United    States" 


INDEX. 


411 


cited,  3,  9,  113,  116,  119,  120,  126, 
127,  286,  290,  294,  296,  297. 

Huguenots,  their  number  in  Eng- 
land after  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  172. 

Hundred,  the  division  between  the 
tun  and  the  scire,  6. 

Hungary,  partially  adopts  Anglo- 
Saxon  institutions,  271. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas,  his  "History 
of  Massachusetts  Bay "  cited, 
216. 

Illinois,  local  government  in,  290, 
etc. 

Immigration,  in  Bryce's  view  so 
far  not  injurious  to  the  United 
States,  316 ;  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from,  in  the  future,  324, 
325. 

Imperial  Federation,  a  popular 
idea  in  British  Empire,  343. 

Indented  servant,  analogous  to  the 
laet,  9;  condition  of,  in  early 
Virginia,  123. 

Independents,  their  rise  and  prin- 
ciples, 139;  seize  tlie  power  in 
England  in  1648,  147;  ideas  of 
the  party,  154;  difficulties  in 
their  way,  155 ;  establish  a  Coun- 
cil of  State,  156;  make  war 
against  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Holland,  157,  158 ;  dissensions 
among  them  in  1653, 159. 

India,  character  of  English  domin- 
ion in,  248;  village-communities 
of,  as  showing  a  capacity  for 
self-government,  271 ;  a  native  ad- 
ministration for,  anticipated,  272. 

Indiana,  local  government  in,  293. 

International  Reviev,  on  munici- 
pal government,  302. 

International  tribunal,  suggested 
by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  318. 

Iowa,  local  government  in,  287, 
294. 

Ireton,  army-leader  in  English 
Civil  War,  139;  at  first  not  in 
favor  of  popular  government, 
144 ;  reconciled  at  army  prayer- 


meeting,  December,  1647,  145; 
prepares  Grand  Army  Remon- 
strance, 147 ;  prepares  other 
army  manifestoes,  150 ;  prepares 
the  second  Agreement  of  the 
People,  152. 

Irish,  sustain  American  cause  in 
American  Revolution,  226;  heavy 
immigration  into  America,  277, 
278;  England  embarrassed  by 
question  concerning,  322,  323; 
embarrassment  to  America  from, 
352. 

Ironsides,  name  given  Cromwell 
and  his  troopers  at  Marston 
Moor,  by  Prince  Rupert,  138 ;  ad- 
vocate popular  government,  140; 
their  manifestoes,  141,  etc. ;  win 
their  chiefs  to  their  side,  their 
prayer-meeting,  145 ;  their  prow- 
ess in  1648,  147 ;  in  Ireland,  157 ; 
at  Dunbar  and  Worcester,  158. 

Italy,  death  of  freedom  in,  168; 
partially  adopts  in  modern  times 
Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  271. 

Jack  Cade,  justice  and  dignity  of 
his  cause  in  15th  century,  89,  etc. 

James  I,  his  autocratic  ideas,  105. 

James  II,  his  accession,  his  evil 
policy,  and  good  effect  of  it, 
165,  166. 

Jamestown,  settled,  1607,  charac- 
ter of  the  settlement.  111. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  on  the  value  of 
the  New  England  town-meeting, 
284. 

John,  accession  of,  46;  Magna 
Charta  extorted  from,  47 ;  his 
insincerity  and  death,  50. 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  Histori- 
cal and  Political  Tracts  of,  cited, 
3,  8,  9,  115,  116,  278. 

Joseph  II,  of  Austria,  favors  re- 
form, 251. 

Jury,  trial  by,  established  in  Eng- 
land by  Henry  II,  45. 

Jus  divinvm,  not  claimed  by  Nor- 
man Kings,  42;  idea  gains 
strength  in  15th  century,  86 ;  be- 


412 


INDEX. 


comes  portentous  under  the 
Stuarts,  104 ;  revives  after  over- 
throw of  Commonwealth,  103, 
164 ;  falls  out  of  favor  in  middle 
of  18th  century,  177 ;  in  vogue 
once  more  under  George  III, 
218. 

Kansas,  local  government  in,  287, 
293. 

Kenilworth,  home  of  Simon  de 
Montfort,  55,  56. 

Kentucky,  interested  in  the  public 
schools  since  the  Civil  War,  296. 

King,  appears  in  Anglo-Saxon 
polity,  how  evolved,  18;  partly 
hereditary  and  partly  elective, 
19;  how  modified  by  the  Nor- 
mans, 42 ;  power  of,  depressed 
under  Henry  IV,  81;  power  of, 
nearly  doubled  under  Henry  YII, 
93 ;  still  further  increased  under 
Henry  VIII,  94;  absolutism 
claimed  for,  by  the  Stuarts,  105 ; 
swept  away  by  the  Rump,  1649, 
154 ;  restored  under  Charles  II,  j 
165;  holds  title  to  the  colonies, 
195;  inconsistency  of ,  as  rej^ards  j 
the  colonies,  IIKJ;  in  "  responsible  , 
government "  becomes  power- 
less, 257. 

Knights-of-the-shire,  appear  in 
Parliament  of  1265,  57;  the 
champions  of  the  Commons,  64; 
elected  in  x>iii"t  by  yeomen,  179; 
in  18th  century  still  the  best  part 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  180. 

La^ts,   a  class    below    the    ceorls, 
3 ;  analogous  to  Indians  and  in- 1 
dented  servants,  9. 

Langton,  Steplien,  Archbishop  of] 
Canterbury,  his  importance  in 
securing  Magna  Charta,  49. 

Latimer,  Bishop  Hugh,  his  ac- 
count of  his  yeoman  father,  I'M. : 

Laud,  William,  Archbishop  of  Can- 1 
torbnry,  instrument  of  Cliarles  I. 
in  attempt  to  secure  absolutism, 
108 :  his  fall,  132. 


Lecky,  W.  H.,  his  "History  of  the 
18th  Century  "  cited,  171, 180, 190, 
194,  211,  212,  214,  216,  222,  223, 
225,  226,  227,  231,  284,  288,  333. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  his  admiration 
of  New  England,  284. 

Leeds,  misrepresented  in  the  18th 
century,  183. 

Legislatures,  disposition  in  the 
United  States  at  present  to  dis- 
trust, 275. 

Leslie,  David,  nearly  defeats  Crom- 
well in  campaign  of  Dunbar,  157. 

Lessing,  G.  E.,  on  a  narrow  national 
feeling,  365. 

Liberal  party,  rise  of,  in  England 
in  18th  century,  190. 

Lieber,  Dr.  Francis,  on  representa- 
tion, 53. 

Locke,  John,  his  scheme  of  a  cap- 
tain-general for  the  colonies,  199. 

Long  Parliament  (see  Parliament). 

Lords,  House  of,  definitely  separa- 
ted from  House  of  Commons,  68; 
its  weakness  under  Henry  VII, 
94 ;  impotence  under  Henry  VIII, 
*.Mi;  swept  away  by  the  Common- 
wealth, 1()49, 154;  power  of ,  over 
the  Commons  in  18th  century, 
175,  185;  analogy  between,  and 
the  United  States  Senate,  240, 
241 ;  opposes  Reform  Bill  of 
1832,  254;  threatened  with  aboli- 
tion, 255  ;  its  modern  impotence, 
258  (see  also  Parliament). 

Louisiana,  its  retention  of  French 
forms  when  admitted  to  the 
Union,  237. 

Low,  Hon.  Seth,  on  need  for  Eng- 
land of  a  Rigid  Constitution, 
263;  on  municipal  government, 
302,  etc. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  on  constitu- 
tional restraints,  233;  on  value, 
to  the  United  States  of  preserv- 
ing English  traditions,  324. 

^lacaulay,    !Mr.,    English    Radical 

writer,  condemns  Burke,  223. 
]Macaulay,  T.  B.,  his  "  History  of 


INDEX. 


413 


England  "  cited,  15,  62,  100,  1(54, 
166,  169,  178,  183. 

Magna  Charta,  extorted  from  King 
John,  47  ;  summary  of,  48,  49 ;  its 
frequent  confirmations,  appear- 
ance of  the  copy  of,  in  British 
Museum,  50 ;  full  text  of.  Appen- 
dix A ;  its  relation  to  the  idea  of 
a  Rigid  Constitution,  234. 

Maine,  Sir  Henry,  his  "Ancient 
Village  Communities"  cited,  8, 
271 ;  his  "  Popular  Government " 
cited,  21;  derives  United  States 
Constitution  mainly  from  Eng- 
lish precedents,  236,  238,  240,  241, 
242, 243 ;  his  admiration  for  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  244,  262. 

Manchester,  unrepresented  in  18th 
century,  183. 

Manor,  Norman  name  for  tunscipe, 
44. 

Mansiield,  Lord,  chief-justice  of 
England,  his  speech  on  the  Stamp 
Act,  209. 

Mark,  the  primitive  Teutonic  vil- 
lage, 3. 

Marston  Moor,  battle  of,  138. 

Mary  Stuart  (Queen  of  Scots) ,  as  a 
promoter  of  Anglo-Saxon  free- 
dom, 99. 

Mary  Tudor  (Bloody  Mary),  good 
effect  of  her  misrule  in  arousing 
England,  98,  99. 

Mary,  Queen  of  William  III,  ac- 
cedes, 167. 

Maryland,  its  early  polity,  125 ;  in 
the  18th  century,  194. 

Massachusetts,  settled,  116;  polity 
adopted,  117,  192;  ecclesiastical 
in  before  American  Revolution, 
197 ;  leader  in  the  American 
Revolution,  216  (note). 

Massey,  his  "  History  of  the  Reign 
of  George  III "  cited,  210,  264. 

Mauduit,  his  "  Short  View  of  the 
New  England  Colonies"  cited, 
216  (note). 

May,  Sir  T.  Erskine  (Lord  Farn- 
borough),  in  Encyclopedia  Brit- 
annica,  67;    his  "Constitutional 


'  History  of  England"  cited,  181, 
183,  185,  187,  259,  263,  268,  283. 

Michigan,  local  government  in, 
287,  etc. 

Middlesex  electors,  mass  meetings 
of,  over  case  of  Wilkes,  189. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  on  educative 
power  of  representative  govern- 
ment, 12,  13,  283. 

Milton,  John,  his  panegyric  on 
Cromwell,  161. 

Minnesota,  local  government  in, 
294. 

Mir,  the  Slavic  village  community, 
7;  popular  government  in,  63, 
358. 

Missouri,  local  government  in,  287, 
293;  does  not  appreciate  the 
township,  294. 

Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  under 
Henry  VIII,  96. 

Montesquieu,  influence  of  "  Esprit 
des  Lois"  on  Constitution- 
makers  of  the  United  States, 
242,  256,  257. 

Moot,  assembly  of  the  people,  its 
place  of  meeting  in  primitive 
times,  its  functions,  5;  of  the 
tun  analogous  to  the  New  Eng- 
land town-meeting,  9;  it  persists 
under  incipient  feudalism,  24 ;  of 
the  shire  combines  with  the 
Curia  Regis,  44;  primordial  cell 
of  Anglo-Saxon  freedom,  its  con- 
dition in  early  America,  127, 
etc. ;  its  present  condition  in 
America,  275,  etc. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  testifies  as  to 
the  decay  of  the  yeomanry,  135. 

Morley,  John,  his  "  Life  of  Cob- 
den"  cited,  261. 

Motley,  J.  Lothrop,  his  faith  in 
democracy,  335,  336. 

Nabobs,  rich  adventurers  in  18th 
century,  their  influence  in  Parlia- 
ment, 186. 

Naseby,  battle  of,  138. 

Isfation  (The  New  York),  on  mu- 
nicipal government,  302. 


414 


INDEX. 


Navigation  Laws,  of  17th,  and  18th 
centuries,  oppress  the  colonies, 
19i). 

Nebraska,  local  government  in, 
290,  293. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  his  connection 
with  parliamentary  corruption  in 
18th  century,  188. 

New  England,  settlement  of,  112; 
its  character  changed  by  foreign 
immigration,  277  (see  also  Mas- 
sachusetts). 

New  Model,  reconstituted  army  of 
the  English  Commonwealth,  138. 

New  Shoreham,  illustrates  political 
corruption  of  18th  century,  184. 

Newspapers,  the  great,  established 
in  middle  of  18th  century,  their 
good  influence,  180. 

New  York,  its  early  polity,  126;  its 
condition  in  18th  century,  193; 
position  and  temper  of,  at  outset 
of  American  Revolution,  215;  dif- 
ficulties of  government  in  city 
of,  300. 

New  Zealand,  mapped  out  by  Cap- 
tain Cook,  247;  present  condi- 
tion of,  249. 

Neio  Zealand  Herald,  The,  on  an 
English-speaking  brotherhood, 
348. 

Non-conformists,  their  services  to 
freedom,  162;  all  Whigs,  the 
commercial  class  identified  with, 
largely  recruited  by  immigrant 
refugees  from  Catholic  lands,  171 ; 
their  pro-American  sympathies, 
224. 

Non-resistance,  to  arbitrariness  of 
kings,  favorite  theme  of  the 
clergy  in  time  of  Charles  II  and 
James  II,  164. 

Normandy,  importance  to  Eng- 
land of  loss  of,  4<). 

Normans,  they  land  at  Hastings, 
27;  their  battle  array,  32;  their 
danger,  34 ;  their  origin  and 
character,  38,  39. 

North,  Lord,  on  embarrassment 
from   pro-American    feeling    in 


England  in  American  Revolution, 
222. 

North  Carolina,  local  government 
in,  since  Civil  War,  297. 

Norway,  adopts  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
stitutions, 271. 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  at  Has- 
tings, 34. 

Ohio,  early  constitution  of,  286; 
of  its  local  government,  293. 

Old  Sarum,  as  illustration  of  cor- 
ruption in  borough  representa- 
tion, 183. 

Opposition,  function  of  the,  in 
Responsible  Government,  258. 

Ordinances,  royal,  regarded  under 
Stuarts  as  superseding  legisla- 
tion, 106. 

O'Reilly,  John  Boyle,  his  poem  at 
Plymouth,  Aug.  1,  1889,  quoted, 
112,  369. 

Oxford,  illustrates  political  corrup- 
tion of  18th  century,  184. 

Parish,  rises  in  importance,  113, 
114 ;  its  form  when  transplanted 
to  Virginia,  119;  unchanged  in 
American  Revolution,  237. 

Parkes,  Sir  Henry,  on  an  English- 
speaking  fraternity,  344;  on  the 
superiority  of  the  Chinese,  355. 

Parliament  of  1265,  57 ;  of  1295,  60; 
how  related  to  the  witenagemote, 
63;  how  constituted  under  Ed- 
ward I,  64;  division  into  two 
Houses  in  1341 ,  68 ;  good  Parlia- 
ment of  1376,  69 ;  its  hostility  to 
the  peasants  in  1380,  79 ;  deposes 
Richard  II  and  electa  Henry  IV, 
its  great  power  under  Henry  IV, 
its  aristocratic  temper,  81 ;  reac- 
tionary in  spirit  in  middle  of 
15th  century,  85,  etc. ;  shrinks 
into  an  oligarchy,  88 ;  loses  power 
under  the  Tudors,  98;  described  by 
Sir  Thomas  Smith,  100:  its  spirit 
rises  under  the  Stuarts,  107 :  Short 
and  Tx)ng,  131 ;  passes  Grand  Re- 
monstrance, November,  1641,  ar- 


INDEX. 


415 


rest  of  the  Five  Members  resisted 
by,  133;  at  war  with  the  King, 
1642,  136 ;  negotiates  a  peace  with 
Charles  I,  1648,  149;  purged  by 
Pride  and  becomes  tlie  Rump, 
150 ;  ideas  of  tlie  Rump,  150,  etc. ; 
dissolved  by  Cromwell,  1653, 160 ; 
subserviency  of,  under  Charles 
II,  164 ;  passes  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
1689, 167 ;  recognized  as  supreme 
in  18th  century,  173;  its  corrup- 
tion, 177.  etc.;  its  arbitrary  as- 
sumption in  the  case  of  Wilkes, 
189;  assumes  jurisdiction  over 
colonies,  197 ;  agitation  for  re- 
form in,  begins  with  the  Wilkes 
troubles,  223;  furnishes  a  model 
for  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  240,  241 ;  bottom  of  abuse 
reached  in  1816,  252 ;  reformed  in 
1832,  255 ;  its  working  under  Re- 
sponsible Government,  257,  258 
(see  also  Lords  and  Commons). 

Patriotism,  when  narrow,  a  mere 
expansion  of  selfishness,  201 ; 
view  of  Lessing,  of  Goethe,  365 ; 
a  narrow  patriotism  condemned, 
366,  etc. 

Peasants,  rebellion  of,  in  1380, 
under  Wat  Tyler,  75,  etc. ;  under 
Jack  Cade,  in  1450,  89,  etc. 

Pelham,  prime  minister,  1745-1754, 
honest  himself,  but  stoops  to  bri- 
bery, 178. 

Pennsylvania,  early  polity  of,  126 ; 
in  18th  century,  194 ;  temper  of, 
at  outset  of  American  Revolution, 
215. 

Petition  of  Right,  1628,  107;  text 
of.  Appendix  B. 

Petty,  Sir  William,  his  "  Political 
Arithmetic  "  quoted,  171. 

Phelan,  his  "History  of  Tennes- 
see" quoted,  122. 

Phillips,  his  "  Geschichte  des  Angel- 
Sachsischen  Rechts  "  quoted,  3. 

Pictou,  J.  Allanson,  on  local  self- 
government  in  America,  306,  307. 

Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  revert  in 
their  polity  to  old  ways,  113. 


Pitt,  the  elder  (see  Chatham) . 

Pitt,  William  (the  younger),  de- 
nounces the  war  against  America, 
225 ;  introduces  the  question  of 
parliamentary  reform  in  1782, 
250;  leads  aristocratic  England 
against  revolutionary  France, 
252;  initiates  colonial  self-gov- 
ernment, 264. 

Plain  people,  their  love  for  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  327,  328;  their 
political  competency,  view  of  J. 
Toiilmin  Smith,  329;  of  Bryce, 
332;  of  Lecky,  333;  of  Addison, 
334 ;  of  Motley,  335, 336 ;  of  Presi- 
dent Eliot  of  Harvard,  337,  etc. 

Plantagenets,  their  masterful  qual- 
ities, 105. 

Plymouth,  settled,  1620,  character 
of  the  settlers,  112;  the  method 
of  settlement  at,  described,  115. 

Pombal,  in  Portugal,  favors  re- 
forms, 251. 

Poor  whites,  origin  of,  in  the  South, 
123. 

Portugal  partially  adopts  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  271. 

Presbyterians,  as  a  party  in  the 
English  Civil  War,  139;  oppose 
Independents  in  the  field,  146. 

President  of  the  United  States,  his 
likeness  to  English  King  of  18th 
century,  238. 

Preston,  battle  of,  in  1648,  147. 

Pretender,  his  doubtful  birth  and 
character,  173. 

Price,  Dr.  Richard,  leading  non-con- 
formist, his  pro-American  sym- 
pathies, 224. 

Proctor,  R.  A.,  on  identity  of  the 
two  branches  of  the  English- 
speaking  race,  314,  315. 

Public  opinion  makes  itself  felt  first 
in  middle  of  18th  century,  189; 
its  great  power  at  present,  259. 

Publication  of  parliamentary  de- 
bates, salutary  influence  from, 
189. 

Pym,  John,  parliamentary  leader 
in  English  Civil  War,   131;  his 


416 


INDEX. 


great  authority,  136;  liis  views, 
his  death,  137. 

Quakers  embarrass  the  patriots  in 

•    American  Revolution,  226. 

Quarter  Sessions,  Court  of,  rise  of, 
under  Edward  III,  82 ;  supersedes 
in  part  the  shire-moot,  114 ;  trans- 
planted to  Virginia,  120;  contin- 
ues to  administer  the  county  in 
Virginia  and  the  South,  193,  237. 

Quebec,  effect  of  the  fall,  in  1759, 
upon  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  203. 

Ramsay,  his  "  History  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  "  cited,  226. 

Ransome,  his  "Rise  of  Constitu- 
tional Government  in  England  " 
cited,  101,  182. 

Reform  Bill  of  1832,  first  introduced, 
March,  1831,  its  provisions,  253; 
its  second  introduction,  251;  its 
passage  and  happy  results,  255 ; 
supplemented  in  1867  and  1884, 
256. 

Reformation  helps  in  England  the 
power  of  the  Crown,  96. 

Reign  of  Terror  in  France,  reaction 
from  excesses  of,  251. 

Representation  in  politics  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  idea,  9 ;  first  appears  as 
regards  the  national  council  in 
1213,  46  ;  its  vitality  in  the  early 
shire-moot,  52 ;  its  value,  condi- 
tions necessary  for  its  successful 
practice,  53,  54 ;  those  conditions 
satisfied  in  England,  55;  appears 
in  Parliament  of  1265,  57 ;  con- 
firmed under  Edward  I,  60;  in 
Spain,  Germany,  Italy,  and 
France,  (!2;  a  burden  rather  than 
a  privilege  at  first,  ()5 ;  its  char- 
acter in  New  England,  128;  its 
decay  in  England  in  18th  cen- 
tury, 175;  degeneracy  of,  in  the 
Englisli  shires,  178,  etc.;  power 
over,  of  the  nobles  and  the  rich, 
180;  of  Tliirteen  Colonies,  Chat- 
ham's view  of,  208;  Camden's 
and    Mansfield's,  209;    Burke's, 


Yonge's,  and  Lecky's,  211 ;  Rich- 
ard Bland  of  Virginia  on,  in 
Great  Britain,  213 ;  fairly  secured 
to  the  English  nation  in  1832, 255. 

Representatives,  House  of ,  of  United 
States,  modelled  on  English  House 
of  Commons,  240. 

Responsible  Government,  its  origin, 
174 ;  description  of,  257,  258 ;  be- 
stowed upon  the  new  colonial 
empire,  266. 

Restoration,  reaction  from  ideas  of 
the  Commonwealth  at,  163. 

Revolution  of  1688,  momentous 
character  of  the  crisis,  167,  etc. ; 
merely  a  restoring  of  the  old  sys- 
tem, 169;  its  partial  character, 
174. 

Revolution,  American,  how  it  came 
on,  192,  etc. ;  a  struggle  of  par- 
ties, not  countries,  218,  etc. ;  sup- 
ported by  a  strong  minority  in 
Parliament,  by  a  large  party  out- 
side, 221. 

Revolution,  French,  excesses  of, 
arrest  progress  in  England,  250, 
251. 

Rhode  Island,  agreement  of  settlers 
in  1637  a  germ  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, 234. 

Hichard  I,  his  bad  rule,  46. 

Richard  II,  his  bearing  before  the 
rebellious  peasants,  75;  his  por- 
trait in  Westminster  Abbey,  76; 
at  Wat  Tyler's  death,  77;  his 
treachery,  78 ;  his  absolutism  and 
deposition,  80. 

Richard  III,  his  accession,  92. 

Richmond,  Duke  of,  pro-American 
in  American  Revolution,  224. 

Rivingtou,  his  "  Independence  the 
Object  of  Congress  in  America" 
cited,  21(). 

Robinson,  John,  pastor  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers,  112. 

Rogers,  J.  Thorold,  his  "History 
of  Agriculture  and  Prices  "  cited, 
65,  77. 

Roman  de  Ron,  Xorman  poem  cm 
the  Conquest,  30,  31,  33. 


INDEX. 


417 


Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  on  political 
corruptiou  in  his  time,  187. 

Rousseau,  his  wide  influence,  251. 

Rump  (see  Parliament). 

Runnymede,  as  seen  from  Windsor 
Castle,  47. 

Rupert,  Prince,  at  Edgehill,  137;  at 
Marston  Moor  and  Xaseby,  138. 

Rushworth,  his  "  Historical  Collec- 
tions "  cited,  142,  147. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  introduces  the 
Reform  Bill  in  1831,  253. 

Russia,  her  great  future  predicted 
by  Gladstone,  357 ;  sketch  of  her 
empire,  of  her  people  and  institu- 
tions, 358;  of  her  history,  359; 
characteristics  of  the  present  des- 
potism, 360;  her  vast  power,  361; 
as  a  rival  of  Anglo-Saxondom, 
362,  etc. 

Ryley,  Gulielmus,  his  "Placita 
Parliamentaria  "  cited,  68. 

Sabine,  Lorenzo,  his  "  American 
Loyalists  "  cited,  227. 

Salisbury,  illustrates  abuses  of  rep- 
resentation in  the  18th  century, 
183. 

Saturday  Review,  The,  London,  on 
Strafford  and  his  policy,  275. 

Scotch,  Yane  negotiates  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  with,  138; 
defeated  by  Cromwell  at  Preston, 
1648,  147;  crown  Charles  II,  in 
1(>19,  and  make  war  on  English 
Commonwealth,  157 ;  defeated  at 
Dunbar  and  Worcester,  158 ;  im- 
migrants largely  Tory  in  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  226. 

Seeley,  J.  R.,  his  "  Expansion  of 
England  "  cited,  on  leadership  of 
New  England  in  American  Revo- 
lution, 216  (note) ;  on  Imperial 
Federation,  343. 

Self-Denying  Ordinance,  of  1645, 
138. 

Senate,  of  the  L'nited  States,  anal- 
ogy between,  and  the  House  of 
Lords,  240 ;  a  fortunate  creation 
of  the  Constitution-makers,  241. 


Separatists,  sect  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  112. 

Shaw,  Albert,  on  local  government 
in  Illinois,  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies,  cited,  2iJ0. 

Ship-money,  an  illegal  exaction 
under  Charles  I,  109. 

Shire,  its  character  in  primitive 
times,  18;  misfortunes  to  repre- 
sentations in,  180  (see  also  Moot). 

Simon  de  Montfort,  his  origin,  56; 
convenes  the  Parliament  of  1265, 
57 ;  his  death  and  influence,  58. 

Slav  (see  Russia). 

Slavery,  reasons  for  its  develop- 
ment in  Virginia,  123. 

Smith,  Adam,  his  "Wealth  of  Na- 
tions "cited,  199;  favors  setting 
free  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  222. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  on  a  moral  union 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  344. 

Smith,  J.  Toulmin,  his  "  Local  Self- 
Go  vernment  and  Centralization  " 
cited,  3,  14,  53,  54,  283,  329,  330. 

Social  compact  on  board  the  ' '  May- 
flower," its  relation  to  a  Rigid 
Constitution,  234. 

Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  ne- 
gotiated by  Yane  with  the  Scotch, 
1643,  138. 

South,  in  United  States,  Yirginia 
leader  and  typical  colony  of.  111, 
295 ;  change  of  spirit  in,  since  the 
Civil  War,  296. 

South  Africa,  becomes  an  English 
possession,  247;  present  condi- 
tion of,  249. 

South  Carolina,  its  early  polity, 
125 ;  temper  at  outset  of  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  216. 

Southey,  his  early  enthusiasm  for 
free  ideas,  251. 

Spain,  destruction  of  freedom  in, 
168 ;  partially  adopts  Anglo-Sax- 
on freedom,  271. 

Stamp  Act,  colonies  exasperated 
by,  'M\ ;  debate  on,  in  Parliament, 
207,  etc. ;  question  as  to,  summed 
up,  210,  211;  importance  of  de- 
bate on,  to  England,  212. 


418 


INDEX. 


Stanley,  Dean,  his  "  Memorials  of 
Westminster  Abbey"  quoted,  7(5. 

Star-Chamber,  Court  of,  its  estab- 
lishment and  character,  101,  102; 
active  under  the  Stuarts,  106. 

States-General,  in  France,  loses 
power  and  disappears,  108. 

Statute  of  Laborers,  of  14th  cen- 
tury, 72,  73. 

Stephen,  King,  sway  of  feudalism 
in  his  reign,  43. 

Story,  "On  the  Constitution," 
cited,  196. 

Stoughton,  on  high  character  of  the 
New  England  settlers,  214. 

Strafford,  Wentworth,  Earl  of, 
agent  of  absolutism  of  Charles  I, 
108;  his  execution,  132;  Traill's 
Life  of,  referred  to,  275. 

Stuarts,  their  incompetency  as 
rulers,  105;  general  lack  of 
manly  and  womanly  worth,  173 ; 
abridge  the  franchise,  182. 

Stubbs,  his  "Constitutional  His- 
tory" cited,  2,  42,  48,49,52,58, 
60,  95,  100. 

Sudbury,  illustrates  abuses  in  bor- 
ough representation,  184. 

Sugar  Act,  hardship  of  its  opera- 
tion in  Thirteen  Colonies,  200. 

Supervisor,  office  of,  in  Township- 
County  system  of  local  govern- 
ment, 126,  289. 

Supporters  of  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
Society  of  the,  their  democratic 
ideas,  223. 

Supremacy,  Act  of,  under  Eliza- 
beth, 100,  101. 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  based  on  English  prece- 
dents, 241. 

Sweden,  partially  adopts  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom,  271. 

Tacitus,  his  "  Germania"  cited,  2. 
Taillefer,  the  Norman  minstrel  at 

Hastings,  story  of,  32,  33. 
Taswell-Langmead  ,  his    "  English 

Constitutional  History  "  cited,  2, 

22,  60,  70,  86,  100. 


Taylor,  Hannis,  his  "Origin  and 
Growth  of  the  English  Constitu- 
tion "  cited,  2, 50,  81, 121,  253,  256. 

Tennessee,  interested  in  public 
schools  since  the  Civil  War,  296. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  his  ode  at  open- 
ing of  the  Colonial  Exhibition, 
1886,  269. 

Texas,  interested  in  public  schools 
since  Civil  War,  296. 

Thackeray,  Rev.  S.  W.,  his  "Land 
and  the  Community "  cited,  83, 
262. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  on  mistake  of 
England  in  the  American  Revo- 
lution, 349. 

Thegns,  class  of,  originate  from  the 
Gesith,  19. 

Theows,  slaves  of  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, 4. 

Thomson,  his  "  Historical  Essay 
on  Magna  Charta  "  cited,  51. 

Thorough,  policy  of  Laud  and 
Strafford  under  Charles  I,  108. 

Tobacco,  importance  of,  in  deter- 
mining the  form  of  "Virginia  soci- 
ety, 123. 

Tories,  their  origin  and  principles 
in  England,  170;  doubtful  strug- 
gle with  Whigs  at  opening  of  18th 
century,  172;  their  connection 
with  parliamentary  corruption, 
178;  of  America,  their  strength, 
225,  etc.;  their  high  position  and 
character,  227;  pathetic  circum- 
stances of  their  exile,  228,  etc. ; 
in  P^ngland,  favor  in  modern 
times  self-government  in  colo- 
nies, 265. 

Town-meeting  of  New  England, 
analogous  to  ancient  folk-moot, 
9;  early  New  England  town- 
meeting,  117;  not  changed  by  the 
Revolution,  237;  its  present  con- 
dition, 277,  etc.;  drawbacks  of, 
283 ;  tributes  to  its  value,  284. 

Town-system  of  local  self-govern- 
ment, described,  276,  etc. ;  carried 
by  New  Englanders  to  the  West, 
285. 


INDEX. 


419 


Township-County  system  of  local 
self-government,  its  germ  found 
in  New  York,  12();  prevalent  in 
Middle  and  Western  States,  277 ; 
as  found  in  Michigan,  289,  290 ; 
in  Illinois,  292,  293;  in  Wiscon- 
sin, Nebraska,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Missouri,  Kansas,  293;  in  Iowa, 
Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  294. 

Traill,  his  "Life  of  Strafford" 
cited,  275. 

Tucker,  Dean,  favors  freedom  of 
the  Thirteen  Colonies,  222. 

Tudors,  their  arbitrary  temper,  100 
(why  partially  thwarted,  102) ; 
their  masterful  qualities,  105; 
create  rotten  boroughs,  182. 

Tun,  of  the  primitive  Teutonic 
mark,  3;  reproduced  to  some  ex- 
tent in  New  England,  116. 

Unification,  a  tendency  toward, 
among  modern  nations,  benefits 
from  it  to  humanity  and  to  the 
individual,  3(j8,  369. 

Uniformity,  Act  of,  under  Eliza- 
beth, 100,  101. 

United  States,  polity  of,  compared 
with  that  of  Anglo-Saxons,  8,  9 ; 
germ  to  be  found  in  early  Teu- 
tonic communities,  10;  adopt 
Federal  Constitution,  235;  base 
it  on  English  precedents,  236, 
etc. ;  contrast  between  founders 
of,  and  those  of  other  republics, 
236;  stability  of,  due  to  great 
amount  of  England  imbedded  in 
them,  243;  condition  of  moral 
population  in,  as  regards  the 
popular  moot,  276,  etc. ;  Town- 
ship-Coimty  system  likely  some 
day  to  become  uniform  type  of 
local  government  in,  298;  condi- 
tion of  urban  population  in,  rapid 
increase  in  size  and  number  of 
cities  not  necessarily  an  evil, 
299;  government  of  cities  the 
one  conspicuous  failure  of,  300; 
people  of,  of  undoubted  Anglo- 
Saxon  stock,  313;  testimony  to 
this  of  Matthew  Arnold,  314 ;  of 


R.  A.  Proctor,  314,  315 ;  of  Bryce, 
315,  316;  of  Sir  Edwin  Arnold, 
317,  318;  embarrassments  of,  at 
present  moment,  323,  324 ;  indif- 
ference in,  to  idea  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  brotherhood,  348. 

Universities,  English,  almost  uni- 
formly hostile  to  political  prog- 
ress, 333. 

University  of  Oxford,  advocates 
absolutism  under  James  I,  105 ; 
dislike  of  liberty  in,  in  present 
century,  333. 

Vambery,  Arminius,  on  the  colo- 
nial position  of  England,  357. 

Vane,  the  writer's  "  Life  of  Young 
Sir  Henry"  cited,  139,  141,  etc.; 
145,  154,  155,  162. 

Vane,  Young  Sir  Henry,  negotiates 
the  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant, 138;  not  at  first  in  favor 
of  popular  liberty,  145 ;  condemns 
execution  of  Charles  1, 156 ;  quar- 
rels with  Cromwell,  159;  his 
"  Healing  Question,"  235. 

Victoria,  Queen,  at  opening  of  the 
Colonial  Exhibition  in  1886,  269, 
270. 

Villeinage,  origin  of,  23;  grades 
and  character  of,  under  Norman 
Kings,  45;  condition  of,  in  14th 
century,  70,  71. 

Virginia,  company,  chartered,  1606, 
beginning  of  English  coloniza- 
tion of  America,  111;  develop- 
ment of  polity  in,  118,  etc. ;  re- 
produces contemporary  England, 
119 ;  her  parishes,  vestries,  coun- 
ties, and  Courts  of  Quarter  Ses- 
sions, 119,  etc.;  her  condition  in 
18th  century,  193;  ecclesiastical 
grievance  in,  197;  temper  of,  at 
outset  of  American  Revolution, 
215;  local  government  in,  since 
Civil  War,  296. 

Von  Maurer,  his  "  Mark-Verfas- 
sung  "  cited,  2. 

Waitz,  his  "  Deutsche  Verfassungs- 
geschichte  "  cited,  2. 


420 


INDEX. 


Walpole,  Horace,  on  transferrence 
of  the  true  English  to  America, 
110;  believes  American  Revolu- 
tion saves  English  freedom,  222. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  his  connec- 
tion with  pai'liamentary  corrup- 
tion, 188. 

Wapentake,  name  for  hundred,  18. 

Washington,  his  position  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  Wat  Tyler  and 
Jack  Cade,  91 ;  fears  strength  of 
the  Tories  in  American  Revolu- 
tion, 22G;  celebration  of  centen- 
nial of  his  inauguration,  April  30, 
1889,  327. 

Wat  Tyler,  leader  of  peasant  re- 
bellion in  1380,  7(i ;  his  death  and 
character,  77. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  brings  cessa- 
tion of  reaction  against  French 
Revolution,  252. 

Weser,  scene  at  mouth  of  river,  2. 

West,  settlement  of  the,  in  United 
States,  285. 

West  Indies,  assured  to  England, 
248;  character  of  her  dominion 
in,  249. 

West  Virginia,  local  government 
in,  297. 

Wesimiyister  Review,  The,  on  mis- 
appreciation  of  England  by 
America,  219 ;  on  India,  272 ;  on 
an  English-speaking  brother- 
hood, 345,  etc. 

Whigs,  their  origin  and  princi- 
ples, 170;  affiliated  with  non- 
conformists and  the  commercial 
class,  171 ;  doubtful  struggle  vvitli 
Tories  at  beginning  of  18th  cen- 
tury, 172;  their  connection  with 
parliamentary  corruption,  178; 
favor  self-government  in  the 
colonies,  265. 

Whitlocke,  his  "  Memorials  "  cited, 
147. 

Wilkes,  England  roused  from 
apathy  by  case  of,  189. 

William  I  (the  Conqueror),  lands 
at  Hastings,  27 ;  instance  of  his 
tact,  28;  his  generalship  and 
bravery,  34 ;  as  a  victor,  35 ;  his 


character,  36;  nature  of  his  rule, 
40;  maintains  a  large  portion  of 
the  old  order,  41. 

William  II  (Rufus),  character  of 
his  rule,  43. 

William  III  (of  Orange),  his  acces- 
sion, 167;  his  character,  172,  173; 
stoops  to  bribery,  178. 

William  IV,  and  Reform  Bill  of 
1832,  255. 

William  Grindecobbe,  heroic  peas- 
ant in  1380,  78. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  cited,  353. 

Windsor  Castle,  view  from,  47. 

Winsor,  Justin,  his  "  Narrative 
and  Critical  History  of  America  " 

*   cited,  194,  220. 

Winthrop,  John,  settles.  Boston, 
116. 

Wisconsin,  local  government  in, 
2iK),  293. 

Witenagemote,  origin  of,  20;  per- 
sists under  the  Norman  Kings, 
43;  how  developed  into  Parlia- 
ment, 63. 

Worcester,  battle  of,  1C51,  158. 

Wordsworth,  his  early  enthusiasm 
for  freedom,  251. 

Writs  of  Assistance,  Thirteen  Colo- 
nies exasperated  by,  205. 

Wyatt's  rebellion,  against  Mary 
Tudor,  99. 

Yeomen,  their  rise,  character,  and 
position,  65 ;  as  settlers  of  New 
England,  121,  122;  give  strength 
to  the  Roundheads  in  the  Civil 
War,  134 ;  their  value  as  soldiers, 
136;  have  an  influence  in  elect- 
ing knights-of-the-shire,  history 
of  their  decline,  179;  rapid  in 
18th  century,  180;  their  revival 
anticipated,  311. 

Yonge,  his  "  Constitutional  His- 
tory of  England  "  cited,  211,  265. 

Yorkshire  freeholders,  mass-meet- 
ings of,  189. 

Zincke,  F.  Barham,  on  future  great- 
ness of  the  English-speaking 
race,  309,  etc. 


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